The Angel of Alderaan: Remixed
by Tribun
Summary: Rewritten! When Darth Vader discovers a surprising truth moments before the Death Star is ready to destroy Alderaan, he makes a fateful decision, and the future is changed forever.
1. Prologue

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

* * *

**The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed**

**Prologue**

Obi-Wan looked in horror, when Padmè, already weak from the birth, suddenly went limp, only moments after begging him to believe that there was still good in Anakin, unknowing that he was most likely dead by now. The medical droids at once became hectical when their worst prediction- that they would lose their patient- became reality. They might be droids, but in their function they had developed a huge respect for life.

"Her heart has stopped! Fast, initiate revival!" the head droid ordered, while the medical scanners sounded a critical alert.

"Amidala...?" Obi-Wan could feel her life slowly starting to fade, trying to return into the Force. He was no healer, he had no idea how to stop it. "You can't leave now!"

"Revival!" the droid ordered, and a strong electric pulse shot into her heart, but it didn't start again. As if she'd lost all hope...

_Is this her fate, to die of a broken heart? _He didn't know her very well, but he felt that this was the worst way to go. She didn't deserve this fate. "You can't leave them!... They need you!"

"Revival!" Again nothing happened. As if she hadn't anymore the will to go on....

"Don't do it for me, or for Anakin... just don't leave the children alone!....Live for them..." pleaded for a last time, having no idea if she could even hear him anymore. He felt that in moments, she would leave to never return.

"Revival for the last time!" This time, she spamsed, and suddenly her heart started to beat again, the alert stopping. "Revival successful. Fast, more her into the IC-unit!"

Obi-Wan watched the droids hurring her away to stabilise her. Looking to the newborn twins, he couldn't help but to thank them. They had propably saved their mother's life without even knowing it. _You two are just born, and already you have left your mark on this galaxy. You have given her the spark to hold on her life. I only wish things would have gone different, then Anakin would be now here and be so happy when seeing you._

Obi-Wan felt the pain returning when thinking about Anakin. His last words were that he hated him, before he had burst into flames, screaming in pain. It had been a horrible sight, one that he would never forget. Thank the Force that Padmè had been spared seeing this. He had no doubt, Anakin, or better, Vader hadn't survived. No one could have survived such extensive injuries.

But Anakin, the real Anakin, had died earlier.

How blind he had been not to see how Anakin had slowly drifted away, until it had been too late. The good man that Anakin had once been -tepramental and yet having his heart at the right place- was destroyed, and he was replaced by Darth Vader, twisted and evil. Obi-Wan felt, he could only hold the pain at bay when thinking, that he had destroyed Vader, who was wearing Anakin's face, that Anakin had already been killed on the inside.

_How can it end this way...? _He found no answer while wondering what they would do now, with the Empire in power. What to do with a whole galaxy against you?

* * *

_...two days later..._

"She is finally waking up. We feared that she would fall into a coma, but she has stabilised," the droid told them, then left them to give them the privacy for talking with her. Padmè had been critical for the first two hours, but she had made it, and now Obi-Wan, Yoda and Bail waited for her to wake up.

Finally she opened her eyes. They looked as if she had seen horrible things. When she saw Obi-Wan, she started to cry. "Obi-Wan....it was so horrible."

"Amidala? What happend. What are you talking about?" he asked her, wondering what had happened.

"I saw thing...horrible things.... And I know they are true..." Her emotional distress made clear that whatever she had seen must have really horrified her.

Obi-Wan looked to Yoda. "Sense the influence of the Force, I do. After carrying the children, possible this could have been," the old Jedi master admitted. "Tell us of what you have seen."

"I...I saw Anakin...on a operating table, more dead than alive, horribly burnt..... He was in so much pain... They...they puzzled him together with metal limbs.....and put him into a horrible black armor, like a prison," she told them under sobs, and Obi-Wan had to use what he knew to keep her from becoming even more distressed. "And the first thing he asked...was if I was all right..... Palpatine...said that Anakin killed me.... Anakin didn't want to believe it...he started to destroy everything in sight.... Despair... pain... and so much anger and hate....it was so horrible."

She then was unable to speak anymore, crying without restraint.

The others were also deeply troubled by this revelation. Vader was still alive, and now reduced to something, that could be only described as terrifying, going after her description of the horror she had seen. But the more important issue right now was, how to calm Amidala down. Finally Bail gave some descret oder to one droid outside.

A minute later Amidala was still in tears, nothing left of the woman that seemed to have been able to take any blow and go on, when she heared something that sounded like baby cries. Looking to her side, she saw that the twins had been brought into the room. Seeing them managed what the adults couldn't, it calmed her down.

"They missed you, as if they felt that something was wrong and wanted to be sure that you are all right," Bail explained. Padmè's hands were a little shaky, but as soon as she held these two bundles of joy, they stopped crying and became peaceful.

"My beautiful children..."

They felt that it was best to give her privacy for this bonding, so they left, walking down the corridors, while talking about the grave news they had recieved from her. "The truth, she had seen. Still alive Vader is. More dangerous than ever he now is," Yoda gravely concluded, speaking out the danger looming over them. "Know of her survival and the children, he can not be allowed to. Otherwise the darkness neverending will be."

"It should be possible to fake her death with a fake body appearing pregnant. This way, Vader will think mother and child have died. But what will become of them?" Bail asked.

"I don't like to say it, but after making the usual tests on the children, we will have a hard time hiding them and Amidala. Vader seems unable to feel her now because of all the pain he's still in, but the children... Luke is the stronger of the two, but his sister also would have been one of the strongest knights in the order. Both their counts are very high. It will be difficult to hide them..." Obi-Wan reminded them grimly.

"Desperate mesures to use we need," Yoda decided.

"But we have to wait until Amidala is stong enough again. I won't support making this decision without her," Obi-Wan made clear. No way he would make the same errors again. He felt that the decision they had to make would be difficult, and Padmè wouldn't like it, but she would see the need for them.

And he felt that the Obi-Wan of old had died in these days. Maybe he should find a new name for the future?

* * *

_...on Coruscant..._

"We had to put him under sedation again, your majesty. Otherwise he would have torn down the entire sickbay," the doctor reported to the Emperor.

"Good... wake him up tomorrow in my presence. I will know how to calm him down," Palaptine dismissed him, continuing to look over the skyline of the newly-named Imperial City.

Soon, in some weeks, he would leave this pathetic excuse of an office, to reside in the soon to be completed Imperial Palace, on which's construction site he had a perfect view. Despite having begun only yesterday, they had already eliminated all buildings on the building ground. It was impressive how fast the bureaucracy worked worked in a totaltarian state. In only hours they'd seized all the property, kicket out the former inhabitants and demolished everything. Truely impressive.

And also in his view was the ruin of the Jedi temple, a symbol of his victory. He's decided to let it stay to rot as a symbol of a defeated power. A symbol of the strength of the new Empire. That, and something he could simply enjoy when looking out of the window.

Palpatine couldn't suppress a pleased smile. He might have become disfigured thanks to that cursed Mace Windu, but that was a small price for what he had gained. This was now his Empire, the Chosen One was at his bidding, and all the nuiscances were removed.

Yes, it was a good day for him. And right now, the sun went up, to greet Coruscant with a new day of the new calendar, with the republican yearcount replaced. Today was a day at the year 1 of the new imperial calendar.

And it seemed to be a good day for Palpatine, now Emperor of the entire galaxy.

_**to be continued...**_


	2. An Angel ressurrected

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

* * *

**Chapter 1: An Angel ressurrected**

_"You were the Chosen One!" Obi-Wan screamed at him in soul torment. _

_His body bursted into flames, making him scream in pain when he felt the fire eating him away. _

_"I loved you like a brother...." Obi-Wan finished, then left him alone. The flames consumed him, then the armor grew on him, trapping him into a black, metallic prison. He found himself standing in a cloumn of light, the rest was darkness. _

_"Murderer!" _

_The younglings he had killed in the temple surrounded him one after the other. Some missed a leg or a arm, others had their chest ripped open, their innards hanging down in pieces. They surrounded him, staring at him in a way, that made him feel cold. _

_"Murderer. We were only children, and you robbed us of our future" _

_"Murderer!" _

_"Murderer!" _

_"MURDERER!" _

_Then all of it vanished, he came face to face with General Grevious. Grievous looked at him with interest. "Finally....someone like me," he then stated, appearing not agressive at all._

_"I'm nothing like you!" he nearly screamed back, the monster unnerved him. He was no soulless monster like Grevious._

_"Oh really? People thought of me as a monster, they think so of you, too. I'm mostly machine, you are too. I have butchered billions, you have killed nearly as much too. I'm ruthless, you are too. So we are much alike." Grevious said matter-of-fact, seeming to find pleasure with the comparison._

_"Never!" He tried to hit him, but Grevious disappeared, and someone else appeared in front of him. He froze when seeing her. She was pale, a buldge in her mid-section, her eyes hard. He didn't want to see her, she looked like a walking dead, but her eyes burned like fire._

_"I trusted you, and you killed me." Amidala said coldly. _

_"No, I not wanted it to end that way!" he stammered. _

_"You are the one responsible for my tragedy!" Amidala continued, not even taking notice of his words. "Until the end of your days, it shall torture you, the GUILT!" _

_"THE GUILT!" _

_"The guilt!" _

_"...guilt.." _

"No!" Vader screamed, jerking up, only to find himself in his bed inside his chamber on the Devastator. Confused he tried to realize what had happened. For the first time since his turning, he had had a dream. He thought that he had lost that ability long ago. The Dark Side of the Force demanded sacrifices for the power it gave, the inability to dream being one of them. So why did he have one right now, especially one this disturbing?

What did it mean?

No! That was that was unimportant! Pushing the feelings of guilt away with his anger, Vader decided to prepare himself for the day. They would reach the Death Star in some hours, and they had not yet gotten the location of the Rebel base out of her. The Princess was quite stubborn. Too stubborn for her own good.

His master sometimes wasn't one of the most patient people, he wanted results soon, to have a good target, after going through with his plans. In Vader's opinion Palpatine was a little too obsessed with that technological terror his engineers did create. Sure, it was impressive, but still insigificant to the power of the force.

Vader didn't want to dwell on the thought, that the Princess had reminded him of Amidala, waking the dormant memories. These memories only led to things he had tried to bury very, very deep. It would hurt too much to have the return to the surface. He was now Darth Vader, and he wouldn't let memories of a time long gone influence his present actions.

He was his own master now.

* * *

_...at the same time..._

_"Lord Vader, can you hear me?" asked the dark Emperor to Darth Vader, who was still bound to the operation table. Palpatine really hoped that the surgery would leave his appreantice as useful as he had been before, if not even more._

_"Yes, my Master." Vader finally said, looking around as if searching for someone. "Where is Padmè? Is she safe, is she all right?" _

_Palpatine tried to look most sincere, but failed in every aspect, because it was fake. "I'm afraid she died. ... It seems in your anger, you killed her." He finally told Vader. _

_Despite his mask, Vader literally radiated the shock. How could ha have done such a horrible thing? He remembered what he had done before Obi-Wan had confronted him. Horror arose in him. "I couldn't have! She was alive! I felt her! She was alive! It's impossible! No!!!" _

_Things in the medical room were smashed to pieces by Vader's emotional pain, errupting it a violent Force burst, while he ripped himself free of the table, nearly falling on his knees. _

_**"Noooooooooooooooooo!"**__ He screamed with a voice full of pain, while everything else around him began to shatter in a storm of destruction._

_Then everything faded into white..._

Amidala opened her eyes. Her apartment was dark and she was in her bed. It had been a dream. The same horrible dream she had had so long ago. It had been just after the twins were born, when she had nearly died. And then the nightmare had started.

It had been almost as if she was really there, watching the cyborg who Anakin had become realize the consequences of his rage against her, even if she was still alive. Obi-Wan and Yoda had been very concerned about it, too. She had never forgotten these images, they were so horrible that they had burned themselves into her memory. Her Anakin, horribly injured, turned into a picture of a nightmare, and in pain over her "death".

Walking to the window overlooking the capital of Alderaan, Amidala tried to find an answer why the dream had returned just now. She didn't find one. But it returned the pain of what she had lost since that fateful day. Yes, how much was gone from her life...

But at the moment she had other, more pressing problems. Bail had told her of the disappearance of Leia's corvette, and the report that no one had survived. Amidala didn't even want to think that she could loose one of her children. After losing Anakin to that horrible man, and hearing in the news what happened in his name...

But she had no option other than waiting. And that made it all even more painful for her, a woman once so powerful and now so helpless.

She had no idea that already next day, a herald of death would occupy the sky of Alderaan.

* * *

_...Death Star overbridge, the following day..._

Tarkin was a real fool.

Even under the threat of her home world being destroyed, the princess would never reveal the location of the Rebel base. Vader had sensed the lie as soon as it was out of her mouth. The walls around her mind were strong, so strong that he suspected something more behind it, but he still sensed every lie from her. And Tarkin had believed it at once, thinking that his doomsday machine would press the princess into confession.

But Vader wouldn't say anything. He would merely wait for Tarkin to embarrass himself.

_To even think how much he thinks of this technological terror he has created. _Vader knew that the power of the Death Star was impressive, indeed. The worst man-made weapon of destruction ever built. But it paled when seen on a universal scale. Not that these technocrats would understand that. If people like this idiotic Admiral Motti were an indicator, they couldn't even grasp the mere idea of it.

Tarkin meanwhile turned to Chief Bast, who was in command of the fire control station. "Continue the operation! Fire when ready," he ordered in a way, as if he ordered lunch in a restaurant. Meaning the consequnces of this act didn't interest him at all.

The look of shock on the princess' face also showed the terror she felt at these words "WHAT?!"

That hadn't come to Vader as a surprise, either. Tarkin was too eager to destroy Alderaan to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He wanted to show off what he toy was capable of. It was only another demonstration of Tarkin's foolishness. Destroying Alderaan would only ignite more rebellion, since the truth about the dealings of the government with the Rebellion weren't proven yet.

But Vader couldn't have cared less.

_Let Tarkin dig his own grave.... _His inner voice told him. Sure, he had the power to stop it, the Emperor had granted him this without Tarkin even knowing about it. No way that his master would trust such a weasel like Tarkin, but there was no need to use it.

Holding the princess by the shoulders to prevent her from doing anything stupid, he prepared for the worst. Alderaan had a population of at least 7 billion people, all humans. Their deaths would cause disruptions in the Force that were unhealthy for every Force-user, except for the Sith. A wave of pain and terror, like when a star went nova and destroying its system, but far stronger since it was unnaturally caused by man's hands.

A Sith draws power from death and suffering. Palpatine had contacted him after the destruction of Despayre, the prison world where the Death Star had been built, which was a test for the main weapon and a measure to erase all tracks. The laughs of delight from this old man over all these deaths were really scary even to him. His mastery of the dark side had given Palpatine much control, and the destruction of Despayre had made him even stronger, all the suffering and terror giving him a boost of power.

But for Vader, it was a totally different matter. The destruction of Despayre had left him weak for hours. While a Sith apprentice himself, he had never been able to hate with his full heart like Palpatine could, if that old man even had a heart. It was a truth that he had hidden well from Palpatine and himself. Despite all the hate, all the anger... he still felt guilt for some of what he had done, and it prevented him from perfecting his training.

And now there was the problem at hand.

So much death at once would make a healthy force user only dizzy for minutes, but his body was on life-support. For him, the consequences were much more serious. Despayre only had several millions inhabitants, all prisoners. But the death of seven billion people would kill him instantly at so close range. He had to prepare himself by totally enclosing himself in the Force, it was the only thing that would prevent him from being crushed by so much suffering, by using it as a shield to deflect all the suffering trying to crush him.

While he did so, his thoughts began to wander towards better memories of his life, before his turning, before his life became lonely and cold, and before he became crippled. They'd come to him again and again over the last days, so he'd finally given up on forcing them down, it was impossible. As if there was a sort of siren call drawing him to something. He thought back to when he was a good looking man, when many loved and liked him. He remembered when he was still with his angel.

Seeing how much the princess looked like Padmè had awakened these memories in him, that he had thought lost long time ago. But his Angel was gone...he had even seen the body, the unrefutable proof of that she had died, taking their unborn child with her into the grave. All thanks to him. The bitterness of that fact had made Vader more brutal and cold than ever before, and he had truly become someone who would kill without a second thought.

It also reminded him of another bitter fact. He had never managed to find the man he hated the most. The man, he had once felt of like a father for him. Obi-Wan Kenobi had literally disappeared from the face of the galaxy after crippling him on Mustafar. Vader hated to let scores stay unsettled, and he had sworn, should he find him, he would destroy him once and for all.

Slaughtering all the remaining Jedi of the galaxy had been only a small consolence for this unsettled score.

He hadn't thought of her since then, but now, while wrapping the force around himself, he remembered. Alderaan was also one of the planets he never visited, neither as a Jedi, nor in the war, nor as a Sith, despite Alderaan being very important in the Empire. Engulfed in the Force, he let his presence wander over the doomed world to 'see' what it was like, before it would be destroyed in a burst that would need less than a second to vaporise the whole planet, this way he could distract himself from his tormenting memories.

The people had seen the moon sized intruder in their system, and panic had gripped them. Their terror was making the Sith in him react, as if a inner voice told him that their terror feels good. All of them were mindless in their panic, unable to even flee with a ship, since the planetary shield was up, surrounding Alderann in a otherwise safe bubble. But now it had turned from a lifesaver into a death trap, stopping them from escaping their doom.

All of... Vader sensed something different, a lone light in this sea of fear. He would have missed it, if not being so deep in the Force. This presence felt no fear about the coming end. It could have been the siren call that had sung to him the last days. Interested, he tried to get a clear picture of the lone person, who felt no fear of death. And what he felt was a shock to him.

It was something he hadn't felt in 19 years. It was warm and full of compassion. It was the presence of the only person who could have warmed his otherwise cold heart. A warmness that pentrated even his darkest places.

_Impossible, I saw her body! She had died! _But his feelings weren't fooling him, it was true!

Her mental picture of herself was a sad one. Her long brown hair had begun to gray and her face reflected how hard these years had been on her. Sadness was radiating from her... so much sadness. And still she had managed to sustain her inner fire. To go on despite all losses. To fight even with the back to the wall. His angel was alive.

_She is there...Amidala was brought to this place. How is that possible? He lied.... HE HAD LIED TO ME THE WHOLE TIME! _An enormous anger errupted within him, when realising that Palpatine had lied to him all these years ago. She was very alive, he felt it! But the anger faded, when he realised something in horror.

_No! This world is doomed!_

Fear gripped his heart. Pure, cold fear of the likes he hadn't felt for many years. She would die with Alderaan when the Death Star would fire its main weapon! Then he would be really responsible for her death, having done nothing to prevent it. He would lose her a second time. This time for real! And this time, her loss would kill him, too. The sorrow would be too much for him. No, had had to do something! NOW!

_I won't lose her another time! She is destined for more than this! Palpatine had promised me that I can get the power to prevent her death.... And now I have this power!_ And thus he made a decision.

"Stop the fire sequence at once!" Vader shouted to Bast as loudly as he could. "Alderaan is **not **to be destroyed!"

"Orders canceled! I repeat: Orders canceled! Stop primary ignition at once!" Bast wasted no time and barked orders in panic into the comstation that connected him to the fire control of the main weapon. It would be his head that would roll if Alderaan were to be destroyed despite Vader's orders. The seconds lasted like hours, before the reply came.

_"Primary ignition canceled! The already channeled power will be slowly drained into the other systems!"_ came from fire control. Thankfully the engineers of the battlestation had thought of a way to drain all this power that already had left the main weapon capricators, should a ignition be canceled. Bast relaxed, the day was saved. Vader's orders would not be violated and everything was all right.

But Tarkin was a different matter. He was red-faced with anger, anger directed towards the masked Sith Lord who had ruined this perfect chance to show of his weapon. "Lord Vader! What is the meaning of this? I'm in command of this operation! You have no power to overrule me! I....." Tarkin gasped, when suddenly he felt his throat being constricted, barely allowing him to breathe. He looked in panic to Vader.

"You are foolish to believe that you could overrule me, Tarkin. I will use my command power as the executor of the Emperor's will, and I am now in charge of any matters concerning Alderaan and the princess here!" he told him so cold, that the temperature seemed to drop in the room considerably.

While Vader said this, Leia remained silent; the whole situation was too surreal for her. Vader, the personification of evil, had saved her homeworld. In all the time she'd opposed him she'd have never thought he'd do something like this.

Vader continued, "To destroy Alderaan would be extremely foolish! They would be then martyrs for the rebellion, and the effect would be zero! No, a different approach is better! I hope for you sake, that you will fully cooperate..."

Tarkin wasted no time to nod, and Vader finally released him from the partial choke hold, then turned to the station for communications. "Order the Alderaanian government to lower the shield and surrender at once! Threaten them that if they won't co-operate, we will shatter the shield with a low-powered shot! And then, we will be much less gentle!"

"Yes, Lord Vader!"

Vader then turned to General Tagge, who had remained silent "General! Prepare an adequate landing force at once! Alderaan is to be brought under full imperial control in less than two hours!" The Death Star was far more than a machine of mass destruction. Equipped with many more troops than they would need onboard and countless machines of war, they were a flying base. It was easy to send this force, when the entire crew of the Death Star was many times greater than the whole population of Alderaan. "I want you to find all the evidence we need!"

Tagge nodded "Yes Lord Vader. Our forces will be ready for the landing at once! I won't disappoint you and find what we look for," Then he left the bridge to co-ordinate the landing of the troops.

"Lord Vader, the shield is lowered! Viceroy Organa himself promised that there will be no resistance!" the man at the comm reported.

"Very good. The shield alone is witness of the hypocrisy of the Alderaanian government. They say that they have no weapons, but the shield and defensive systems say something else! The Viceroy and the government will be put under curfew! Should we find the evidence we need to prove our suspictions, they are to be arrested!"

Vader had noticed that the princess paled slightly at these words. He then continued, "Inform me as soon as Alderaan is under full imperial control, and the results of the investigation are in!"

Vader called two guards. "Take the princess back to her cell! And don't even dare to try anything, or you will answer to me!" Then he left the room, and only then did Tarkin find his voice and cursed in anger.

How dare this Sith Lord to do that! He hadn't sacrificed so many years, put so much strength and love into this project, even neglected his beloved Natasi, only to have Vader ruin all of it in the most crucial moment! He hadn't liked him from the first minute he met him all these years ago, and this dislike had only deepened over time.

"That....I will remember!" Tarkin whispered in anger, then moved on to at least salvage a huge chunk of Vaders operation for himself.

* * *

_...on the way to cell block AA-23..._

Leia was deep in thoughts while she was escorted back to her cell.

Why had Vader prevented Alderaan from being destroyed? He was twisted and evil, cold-hearted. But the fact was there; her homeworld had a second chance, even if it was under imperial control. Sure, he had stated his reasons, this clearly came not from a sudden goodness of his heart. Rather it came from cold calculation, but his reactions puzzled her.

There was still also the fact that it would be impossible to hide the government's involvement in the Rebellion in time. It was true the Alderaanian people htemselves were unarmed themselves, but yet the Allianced used the planet to have secret weapon storages. No place was better than a weapons-free zone. Bail would get arrested for sure and sentenced for high treason. And knowing the usual policies of the Imperial High Court, the future looked very grim.

Bail had been always very good to her, something she couldn't say of his second wife, who she despised with a passion. He had admitted to her that Roxana Organa was one of the biggest errors in his life, but that he was unable to ever undo it, in his regret trying to give her the best life possible. Bail hadn't ever told her who her real parents were, only saying that he would tell her, when the time was right.

And now that time would be never, since she feared that she would never see him again, and the secret would remain one.

_Sometimes, the well-being of many outweighs the well-being of the few or a single one_, he had said. And this was very true. Viceroy Bail Organa would be in deep trouble, but Alderaan would live.

And then there was Vader.... This man was a huge mystery. Nobody knew what he looked like, and no one knew what his motivations were, except for the ruler of the Empire himself. She had seen Vader bow to Palpatine more than once on Coruscant. A clear sign who was the master and who the servant.

And she had expected physical torture at his hands, instead after pumping her full with truth serum, it had felt as if he tried to destroy the walls around her mind. She had no idea how he did it, but one thing had been sure. It had hurt. It had really hurt, feeling as if her head had been ready to explode. But he seemed frustrated that he hadn't managed to actually succeed, while she had ended lying whimpering on the floor of her cell.

To her surprise, Vader afterwards had called two female crewmen to escort her to the detention block's shower rooms, telling them that her senatoral gown had to be put into the cleaner, and that he had no desire to have a prisoner in that state in his detention block.

Only then she had noticed that she had lost control over certain body functions during the interrogation, and had become red-faced while being escorted away by the armed women. That Vader actually had cared about something like that was bizarre, althrough she didn't complain because it would have been even worse to be confronted by Tarkin, while smelling like something fresh out of the sewer.

_Life is truly strange.... _Leia thought while she was escorted through the cell block to her cell.

* * *

_...meanwhile on Alderaan..._

Thousands of landing-barges, troop transports and shuttles descended onto the blue and green world known as Alderaan. As soon as they landed, they unloaded thier cargo. Walkers of all sizes, tanks and armored vehicles on wheels and tracked proplusion. Artillery and APC's, moving on wheels and hovering with repusorlifts. And countless stormtroopers in thier characteristic white armour and imperial soldiers. Modular command centres were set on the ground to at once be used to coordinate troops and secure thier regions of the planet. While TIE's and Gunboats patrolled the skies of Alderaan, on the outlook for any sign of resistance. Then the troops advanced to their targets, the big cities of the planet. The artillery taking position outside the cities for tactical reasons, while soldiers and armoured vehicles entered the urbanized areas.

They met no resistance. Alderaan had surrendered peacefully.

From the big window of her suite, Padmè Amidala Skywalker had a good view of the events when the imperial troops together with thier walkers of all sizes began to size control of the capitol of Alderaan. No shots were heared, no cries of panic. Just deathly silence. Alderaan had totally capitulated and wouldn't resist, because of the moon sized monstrosity than hung in the sky, circling around the planet, it's main weapons threatingly pointed towards them.

Amidala had seen that once before, and it brought back hurtful memories. 32 years before, she was Queen of Naboo and witness of exactly the same scene, even if the participants were different back then. The Trade Federation had invaded her home planet, and no one dared to fight back. Exactly as like 32 years before she stood at a window to watch as a free world was brought under hard control.

_Nothing has changed..... All these years ago, it was the Trade Federation, now it is the Empire. It is, as if history repeats itself..... _This harsh truth hurt her big time, but there wasn't anything she could have changed now. She had become a totally powerless woman. And she had lost everything. Her power, her husband...her children.

Thinking of her children was enough to let the always waiting tears re-appear. She had known her son only for a little time. She had to give him up shortly after birth, for him to live on Tatooine. It had nearly broken her heart to say goodbye, to most likely never see him again. And if she remembered well, he would be a man now, turned 19 two weeks ago. She hoped that he was in good health, and that he was safe.

_Maybe he takes after his father in his looks...I wish Obi-Wan would have allowed me to keep him. But who do I want to fool? There was no other was no other way...._

And there was Leia. The first five years, she was able to raise her at the court of Alderaan, before the disaster happend. Bail's wife Breha had been a very warm-hearted woman, Amidala had really liked her. But she had died of a terminal illness, and Bail could only grieve for her in the end. Political pressure forced him to re-marry. But that proved to be a huge error. The new wife of Bail, a woman named Roxana, was extremly jealous of her and her daughter, because she was unable to have children by herself. With threats of divorce, which would have been catastrophic for the royal system, she had blackmailed Bail to unspeakable decisions. Padmè had to leave Leia, who was adopted illegally into the family Organa. Roxana got 'her' child, and since then, she had never seen her again in person.

The only reason why she had not totally broken down was Bail, who remained loyal to her, trying to give her as much information about Leia's life as he could. Leia had never accepted Bail's wife as mother, remembering Padmè too well. She also never really saw him as her father, althrough she used this title in public, but always called him "uncle Bail" in private. But unlike Roxana, she was very close with him.

Bail had told her how that had angered Roxana to no end, and Padmè felt that Leia already had been well aware of her surroundings even at her young age.

But all this would end now. Bail would surely be arrested together with government and court, and Leia was missed in action, most likely captured and prisoner of the Empire. The worst had come true for her.

"Oh Ani, why did it had to be that way? Why had you trusted that tyrant, who now is your master? We could have been such a good family..." With tears in her eyes she watched as the troops proceed to capture all key positions, fanning out in their search for any kind of rebel activity.

Now nothing held her at this place.

* * *

_...Lord Vader's meditation chamber, almost two hours later..._

_I look like death itself......_

Vader had removed has mask and helmet inside of his chamber to stare at his deformed reflection in the mirror. The scars from the glowing rocks hurled at him while lying helpless on the slope on Mustafar were still on his head, the skin deathly pale from years without sunlight. His hair and eyebrows totally burned away when he had caught fire.

To make it short, he looked really ugly.

"I have seen better days....." he said to himself. Althrough that he still looked like this was his own fault to a good part.

The rest of his body was not in a better condition. The whole skin pale, scars on his torso, lungs and heart so damaged that they needed artifactial help. And there were things that weren't obvious, like his artifactial limbs, the result of his stupid move that allowed Obi-Wan to cut off his real ones, or the bones in his neck that got replaced with the original ones damaged by a glowing stone that had landed there, threatening to paralyse him from the neck down.

He looked so different from the once celebrated hero of the Clone Wars, that no one except the closest people to him would recognise him now. As if that mattered, all history books had him either erased, other so much downplayed that it went under in all the text. He wanted it this way. Anakin Skywalker had died on Mustafar.

Vader closed his eyes. Could Amidala still accept him? Her memories of him were of a young, good looking man with sand-blone hair, and he looked like something that was already dead for some days. It was a sharp contrast. Also the last time she had seen him, he was in a rage, had even choked and threatened her. His actions had most likely killed their child. She propably hated him by now, but that didn't really matter right now.

For now, he only wanted to see her, that was all for the moment.

A beeping from the comm ended his musings. He answered it "Yes?!"

_"Lord Vader, here General Tagge! The planet is secured, and our search has been a success. The weapon storages we found speak a clear language. We have arrested the government and Viceroy Organa!"_ came from the speaker.

"Very good, General! Prepare a shuttle for me! I will personally go to the capitol!"

"But Lord Vader, Viceroy Organa protested and Governeur Tarkin requested your presence when he meets him," the General added.

_What does Tarkin want now? Does he want to gloat to the Viceroy?... But on the other hand, Organa must have known about her. I have to question him personally... _Replacing his mask and helmet, Vader decided to rush to the conference room. He couldn't wait to hear what Organa would have to say in his defense

* * *

_...Hyperspace..._

The Millenium Falcon was still some hours away from Alderaan, but Obi-Wan got a strange feeling, that something was not as it was supposed to be. It was as if something should have happened, but it hadn't. The ways of the Force were mysterious, and even Yoda hadn't mastered them to perfection. It was as if the future had begun to shift.

_I'm really starting to become too old for such things... _he thought, while looking to Luke training with the remote droid, the small sphere shooting weak bursts. Until now, Luke had proven to be quite good at deflecting most of them, his father's lightsaber perfectly fitting in his hand, despite him being somewhat smaller than Anakin.

He hoped that he would have the chance to train him. He would not make the same errors he did with Anakin. And Luke was a grown-up man, strong-willed, and knew what he wanted. But he also felt that Luke was trying to lock away the pain over the deaths of his relatives. That was something that had to be adressed sooner or later.

_Luke, I wonder if you knew what else will be in store for you.... _Obi-Wan had at first wondered if he should do it, but then he had decided it would be the best to do it. Padmè had been seperated from him for so long, they deserved to finally be re-united. While they were on Alderaan, he would bring them back together.

The dogma about attachment be damned, he knew it was the right thing to do.... Attachment. he wondered if she was still alive. He had last seen her on Naboo, after the fake funeral of Amidala. Before they had parted ways.

_Some things are not to be.... _He knew that he propably would never get the opportunity to see her again. It was one of the things he regretted.

* * *

_...Dagobah..._

"Very disturbing..." Yoda said to himself, while walking back to his hut.

He had felt the strange disturbances in the Force. They felt most unusual, as if something had become out of the natural order, or as if something was at a place where it shouldn't be. One way or another, the disturbance was only slowly starting to ease itself back to normal.

Disturbing was, that his usual prediction of times to come, even if they shifted constantly, was now hung over with a thick fog, as if nothing was even remotely certain anymore. He had become blind to the future that was longer away than a minute.

* * *

_...on the Death Star..._

"...This station is the final link in the new-forged Imperial chain which will bind the million systems of the Galactic Empire together once and for all. It will weed out traitors. Traitors like you, Viceroy," Tarkin gloated to Bail Organa, who was in binders, in pleasure. After being humiliated by Vader, this display of superiority had restored his good mood.

"You will never get through with this invasion!" Despite being a prisoner now, Bail wouldn't let someone like Tarkin get the upper hand. He had seen so many horrible things in his life, he wouldn't let this man get at him.

"We already have. The evidence against you and your government is crushing. And you don't even have that puny senate anymore to voice protest. You can tell your excuses the judge." Tarkin underlined it with a cold smile.

Bail was about to retort, when someone walked into the room. Someone he hadn't wished to see in person. "Darth Vader. I should have known..."

"Better watch your words, Viceroy. If everything would have followed Governeur Tarkin's wishes, your world would be now reduced to a asteroid field. Better don't forget this..." Vader reminded him calmly. This made Bail go quiet, wondering what Vader meant with that.

Tarkin used this to give Bail the final blow. "Now that Lord Vader is present, I can therefore officially tell you, that Alderaan will be brought under strict control from the Empire. Every bit of rebellion will be rooted out. And you, Viceroy Organa, will be sent to the High Court to recieve your sentence for this treachery."

Althrough he was still angry that his demonstration had been ruined, Tarkin had moved quick to get something out of Vader's interference. He already wanted to call the guards to order them to bring Bail to the transport, when Vader raised his hand.

"I will escort the Viceroy personally."

If Tarkin was surprised that Vader lowered himself to such a trivial task, then he didn't show it and simply waved them away. On the way, silence remained between the two men, until the door of the turbolift had closed. "It was foolish of you to think that you could hide her from me for all time."

"What are you talking about, Vader?" Bail tried to play ignorant. But inwards he had a very bad feeling. And who did he mean? Leia or Padmè?

This made Vader only angrier than he already was, resulting in Bail suddenly getting thrown against the elevator cab wall. "Don't feign ignorance! You know exactly who I am, your reactions told me this long ago! I will find her soon, and then we are finally back together."

Getting up, his shoulder hurting from the impact, it was now clear to Bail that he was talking about Amidala. "After all you have done to her? Dream on, Vader. You have no idea how much you have hurt her." He felt angry at this masked man who had hurt his friend so much. How much he wanted to... but no, he was in no position to do that.

He was spared from more of Vader's anger, when the door opened, revealing the hangar, the transport with the other prisoners already waiting for its departure to Coruscant. "Get him out of my sight!" Vader barked to the nearest guard.

He didn't look back to see Bail getting escorted to the transport that would depart for Coruscant. His thoughts were elsewere.

_One traitor less..... It is disgusting what treason people are able to commit. If I were the Emperor, I would know how to prevent such rebellious thoughts from even existing! Palpatine might be a strategical genius, and and master politician, but he has no idea how to rule a state so that everything stays stable! He relies on crisis far too much... _Vader thought.

Yes, his plans for the future of the Empire after Palpatine were great and simple at the same time. The rebellion was a result of Palpatine's political moves that had made the Empire some enemies. He would have to correct this when the Emperor would be finally dead. But he had to be patient, Palpatine was well over 80 and still showed no signs of dying. But even the Dark Side couldn't make a man immortal. His time would come sooner or later. He didn't believe in the tale of Darth Plaegius.

And he was still angry that Organa had hidden his wife from him for 19 long years. _But this is the past now. He has suffered a final defeat. _Finally he reached his shuttle.

Quickly he sat behind the controls of the readied shuttle. Flying it himself was a security measure to prevent the wrong eyes from seeing Padmè when he would return with her. How would she react to him? There was no way to predict her reaction. Still it nagged at his thoughts while the shuttle descended towards the capitol of Alderaan.

He clearly felt where she was, she now was like a lighthouse guiding him, with him knowing what to look for. So it was easy to land the shuttle near the building where she resided behind a row of trees. The neighborhood was a outer district of the Alderra, a residential area with much green, water and old-fashioned buildings with a outer layer of bright red bricks. It was no wonder that she lived here, it reminded Vader a little of Naboo. It was so peaceful and quiet.

Punching in the lock codes to secure his shuttle, he made his way towards the back entrance.

At the same time upstairs, Amidala was almost done with her task at hand.

Amidala had already booked the next commercial flight leaving Alderaan as soon as the blockade would be lifted, which wouldn't be very long away. It was surprising that business already went on as if nothing had happened. She had few belongings to pack so it did not take her long. The last task she had to do was to erase all data files that would point to her presence here. Nothing held her on this planet any longer. With Bail and Leia gone, there now was nothing to prevent her from going to at least one of her children.

They had decided all these years ago that Luke would be living on the moisture farm belonging to Anakin's step-brother Owen. She knew where the place was, so it was the most logical destination to go, now that her business here had come to an end. Security be damned! Loading all her money from her account in her credit chip, she was done, erasing her account. She shut down the computer and put the card into her pocket.

_And so ends another part of my life.... _she mused while looking around in the impersonal rooms.

When she was gone nothing would show that she ever had been there. Temporarily abandoning her last task, she held the japor snippet in her hand. It was a gift from Anakin, he had given it her while he was still a child. She always had it with her, wearing it on a silver chain around her neck. It was the last thing left that she had received from Anakin.

A token of affection from a former slave boy. She had held dearly on it all these years, wearing almost all the time. That such a simple thing could have such a high value for her, her who had lived in wealth for most of her life, was a testament of for what it stood for.

_Stop living in the past, Padmè..... You are a woman in your mid-forties, you have still time to go on..._

She turned around to take a last view of the city before she left it forever. Lost in her thoughts she didn't notice it until it became impossible to ignore. There was a noise that sounded like breathing, but horribly deformed and metallic, and a strange reflection on the glass of the window. She knew this sound...it made her freeze in mid-motion.

"Amidala....?" the voice was also metallic and clearly artificially loud. Still, the voice spoke her name and only one would do that. Turning around she saw Darth Vader standing in the doorway. She remembered her nightmare, had seen the holonet pictures of him, but to be only meters away from the man you had once loved, and who was now damned to live in black armor, was different.

The day had already taken its toll emotionally on her, but that was too much for her. Her body responded in the only way it knew to prevent anymore stress.

She fainted.

Vader barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He had no desire that she would get injured. He had expected an angry outburst from her. But that she fainted after seeing him... No, he hadn't expected that reaction from her.

Holding her, he looked at her features. Despite his mask showing him verything in a strong orange tint, he found that she mostly still looked like her old self. But of course time had demanded its toll on her. Her hair had already some hints of gray in it, and deep lines in her face were silent witness how these years made her look older than she actually was.

He briefly wondered if he had caused this, but then shoved it aside. Carrying her away, he knew that they would speak soon enough. That would be then the moment of truth for both of them. And maybe he shouldn't wear his mask when the moment was there.

No one ever noticed the dark lord carrying away a woman.

* * *

_...on the fourth moon of Yavin..._

"Sir! We got reports from Alderaan! The Death Star was sighted in that system!" a comm officer shouted to Jan Dodonna, the leader of the Yavin base.

"Great gods..." Dodonna knew of the great firepower of that weapon, but never thought that it was already in use. And they still hadn't recieved the plans for that battlestation. "Is there anything left of Alderaan?" He didn't want to imagine what a shot from the Death Star would do to Alderaan. The reports they got made clear, it could blow Alderaan apart in a second.

"That is the strange thing, Sir! Alderaan is still intact. Instead the Empire forced its surrender and invaded with an army. The hidden weapon storages were found. Bail Organa and the entire government were arrested!" the officer reported further.

Dodonna grimaced sourly. The Empire would have a field day with that, showing how the Alderaanian government had played their cards falsely. It would greatly damage their mission to overthrow the Empire. Now, public opinion would turn to a good part against them, only seeing them as Janus-headed hypocrites. That would make their difficult war even harder than it already was.

It was a bad day for the rebellion.

* * *

_...somewhere else..._

The darkness surrounding her slowly left her. Her head felt heavy and the air tasted strange, because it had no taste at all. She heard no mechanical breathing.

_Could it have been only a dream? _Somehow she doubted it, and opening her eyes, she saw that her doubts were justified. She lay on a bunk inside of a enclosed white chamber and there were instruments on the walls that looked like life support. On the other side were a console and a chair whose occupant she could not see.

She tensed at once._ Is that An....?_

"Padmè...you are finally awake." The voice was now different, it sounded a bit weak, but much more natural. And this time she clearly could think of the owner of that voice at once. "Please don't faint again... when you see me."

Padmè couldn't believe that this could be the same Anakin that she had last seen on Mustafar. He had been a volcano of rage back then. He was so easy to anger, jumped to conclusions and even thought that she had turned against him, accusing her of having something with Obi-Wan before attacking her with his powers.

_"Anakin, you're breaking my heart."_

That had been her shocked reaction to how much he had changed, everything had turned to disaster. He had become a very instable person. But now his voice sounded so...calm. Maybe 19 years and his injuries had managed to tone down these outbursts and make him more manageable? There was only one way to find out. Remembering his injuries, she prepared for a ugly sight.

The chair turned around, and Amidala saw a horrible sight, but compared to the nightmare when Anakin's injuries were still fresh, 19 years had toned it down. But the sight of his scarred, bald head, the skin almost a deathly white, was still bad enough. Despite his eyes being downcast, she could see that at least these hadn't changed, they were still blue.

_He seems so calm...Either the years have done that, or at least some has finally penetrated his thick skull and he can control himself better..._

His eyes remained downcast. "Don't you want to curse me for the rest of my life for what I've done? Don't you hate me?" Vader had much time to think about the last time they had met. And he couldn't even fault her for hating him now.

Amidala was taken aback by this statement. The Anakin of Mustafar would have never said this, so he must have really somehow learned to control his anger. But hate him? She had not thought about that yet. Oh, she was angry with him for his actions, in fact she was downright furious! She despised what he had done, and for what he stood for now. She hated all that he had done in the name of the Emperor! She was also enourmously angry with him for what he had done to her.

But to hate him....? It was one thing to hate what he had done, but a totally different thing to hate him as a person. _Is that really such a great difference?_ She asked herself. _Yes. Anakin had given in to his hated, and I can see what happened to him. It had eaten him up, hurting him even more in the end. If I start to hate him it won't bring either of us anything but more sorrow._

She tried to stay calm when she finally spoke. "No...I don't hate you..... But don't think that it means that I can forgive you for all of the things you have done! You had the choice, and you chose to simply let your hate run rampant and you chose to serve the Emperor. No, I will never forgive you that. If I should ever trust you again, it will take real efford from you!"

"You should know that my anger can still overwhelm me at any time. I could become a madman, completely without reason. I also have many responsibilities, and the biggest problem is that you can't stay with me....." Vader tried to explain calmly. He had no illusions, he was so deep in the Dark Side right now, that he wouldn't risk having her near him for a longer time. It was simply too dangerous for her.

Amidala found this suspicious. "Why is that? Don't think I will accept silence as an answer..."

"It is for your own well-being. I do not want something like 19 years ago to happen again. And then there is the Emperor. He would kill you as soon as he got wind of you still being alive. My life is cold and lonely, but your well-being is one of the few things still capable of warming me. And the best is that for both our safety, we shouldn't stay together..."

Amidala had to reluctantly admit that his logic was sound. Well, should he let her go, she could still return to her son and live secure on the remote Tatooine. The planet was so worthless, no one would ever think about looking there. "I only wonder how you found me."

Vader himself wondered a little about that. "It was purely by chance. If I hadn't been reminded of you when I looked at the princess, you would have been killed along with Alderaan."

"Princess?" Padmè tensed. If this conversation went the way she thought it would it could become a problem.

"Yes, Princess Leia Organa. She is a prisoner on this battle station. She looks so much like you....." Only then did he notice the shocked expression on her face; to put two and two together was easy. "Is she....? Is she....?" The words couldn't come out.

"I thought you would have put all the facts together by now. The child had survived your attack on me. She was born shortly after Mustafar, when I was on the brink of death."

Vader had totally forgotten about her pregnancy back then. He had thought that the child had died because of his attack on her. But now putting it together, he knew why Leia Organa had reminded him so much of Amidala.... she was her child.... Their child. He remembered when he got these wonderful news so many years ago.

_"Something wonderful has happened. I'm . . . Annie, I'm pregnant."_

_"That's . . . that's wonderful."_

_"What are we going to do?"_

_"We're not going to worry about anything right now, all right? This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life."_

He had never seen her growing up. Never been there for her. And... Now his past actions came back to haunt him big time.

_No..._

Vader remembered how he had tried to enter her mind with brute force and how shaken she had been after that. _What have I done......?_

_**to be continued...**_


	3. Escape from the Death Star

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

* * *

**Chapter 2: Escape from the Death Star**

Amidala didn't like the silence that followed in the slightest. In her experience, when there was silence, then something was wrong. Why had Anakin reacted so badly at the relevation? Sure, Leia was a prisoner as far as she had understood (at least that reassured her that her daughter was still all right), but that was no reason to react like this. She felt that that there was more behind this, and now she wanted answers.

By now she had lost all fear when she saw that while Vader was different from Anakin, he was yet also the same. "Anakin Skywalker...what are you keeping from me? Don't you dare to ignore me or to give me the silence treatment."

This finally shook Vader out of it.

No one who knew who was, would anymore use his old name. But that Padmè did so, spoke of bravery. And the way she did it was actually somewhat frightening. He had always seen her as a gentle woman, who couldn't find it in her heart to be mean to someone. But the years must have hardened her, giving her a sharp edge. This made it actually even harder to tell her what he had done.

It was a joke, Darth Vader, a man who usually wasn't scared of anything was intimidated by the one woman that was able to thaw his cold heart. A now tired looking woman a good bit shorter than him. How looks could deceive.

Finally he decided that the best course of action would be, to get over with it. "As she is a known member of the Rebels, it was my task to interrogate her."

"No.... don't tell me..." It became clear for Amidala what this could mean.

"I tried to get information from her by forcing my way into her mind with brute force. Although I know know what that didn't work, I left her in great distress..." Vader finally admitted. The look of shock from Padmè was answer enough. Now she would no longer tolerate him at all, and would propably....

**-SLAP!-**

Vader needed several seconds to realize what had happened. Padmè had slapped him really hard on his cheek, the point of impact by now burning with pain. Looking at her, he saw that she was REALLY angry, but she controlled her anger by sheer amount of will. "Anakin Skywalker! How could you?" It was hard for her not to hit him again. Never before had she felt this angry. _Calm...stay calm..._

"I deserved this..." Vader reasoned, waiting what she would do now.

"If you think I'll hate you now, you are wrong! I think it will be a much more appropriate punishment for you to apologize to her! Only she can forgive you that!" She knew, as long as Leia wouldn't forgive him, he would carry this burden around with him. A punishment on itself. Having said that said, her anger exhausted itself and she sat down on the bunk with face in her hands. "Why did you have to follow this tyrant? We could have been such a good family.... Why can't you just leave him and all this behind you?" Now she knew for sure, that Obi-Wan had been right in seperating the children. At least Luke was safe from all this.

If there was one thing worse than seeing her being angry, then it was her crying. It showed Vader too clear that the years hadn't only hardend Amidala, but also made her more emotional at the same time. She had lost quite a bit of her former emotional control. Seeing her emotional distress, he finally overcame his fear and tried to comfort her. He sat beside her and held her in his arms. Holding her, he cursed himself for causing her so much emotional pain.

After several minutes she stopped weeping. Only then did he dare to talk again, still holding her in his arms. "I can't go with you Padmè. I'm chained to the Emperor with a tight Force link. I would need months to loosen it enough so that I can break it without hurting myself and without him noticing. There is also the problem of my life-support and my appearance...." He looked toward the mirror. "The breather and the peacemaker can be fitted internally, with the controls on a belt. I actually use the mask to intimidate people...and to hide my ugliness. My hair...well that could re-grown. But the operations to repair the scars and my skin, along with implanting the life-support would cost me many months. That is the harsh truth."

Padmè finally looked up to him. "Why are you still looking like that?" Normally all these injuries would have been repaired long ago, it was all within the scope of medcine. Why was Anakin still like that?

"I felt that it was my fitting punishment for what I did to you, and that there is no one I ever wanted to be healthy for again..."

Amidala had listened to all his explanations "You haven't done it before because you saw no sense in doing so?" Vader nodded. Padmè looked into his blue eyes "Then do it now. It is painful to see you like this. But first I need your help..."

"In which way do you need _my_ help?" Vader wondered. He didn't like that one bit, it seemed that his wife was already cooking up something, and after some of the stunts she did so long ago, he knew that she would be ready for many things, jumping into the fray.

Padmè looked him directly into the eyes. "I need you to help me and Leia escape."

Vader let go of her. "W-what?"

* * *

_...at the same time..._

"Do I look so stupid? Sorry, Grand Moff Tarkin, but you should have remembered that waking up the Emperor in the middle of the night is suicide," one of the inner council of the Emperor told Tarkin over the hyperwave transmission.

Tarkin hid his disappointment. He had wanted to report the new developments directly to the Emperor, but he had forgotten that right now it was still nighttime in Imperial City on Coruscant, meaning that the Emperor was asleep. And after the last one daring to disturb his sleep, and not having an important enough reason for doing so (and the councilman obviously deemed this unimportant enough), had met an rather nasty end, no one dared to do so ever again.

"When will he be notified?" he asked the hologram. Hopefully he could still salvage at least something out of this from the Emperor, after having already squeezed out as much as he could from Vader's actions.

"Not before the morning audiences are over. And by then, I'm sure he will have found out from other sources. You know his habits," the councilman reminded him. "I will however inform you, should something else develop in the meantime." The the hologram flickered out.

_Too bad, I wanted to show Vader where his place is on the ladder..._ Despite their attempt to put a newsblock over Alderaan, Tarkin was sure that things had already leaked through. Anytime the press would start to feast on this information. How the Emperor would react then, that was umpredictable. And it meant that most of the possible credit would go to Vader instead of him. A sobering thought.

Sitting in his seat at the big conference-table, he was so occupied with thinking of ways to discredit Vader, that at first he did not notice the messenger entering the room. Only when the man banged his boots together did he notice him. "Yes?" he asked him sharply.

"Our scouts have reached Dantooine. They have found a base that was obviously already abandoned by the rebels some time ago. They now search the neighboring systems," the man reported.

"She lied...of course! She would never bring harm to the rebellion. Vader was right......" Tarkin's mood worsened considerably. Vader's orders be damned, he didn't want the princess on his battlestation any longer. So he decided to ignore his orders, consequences be damned. "She must die and I don't care what Vader thinks!"

* * *

_...meanwhile in the Millenium Falcon..._

The Falcon roared the last distance through hyperspace, its destination now near.

Checking the instruments after getting the signal that they would reach Alderaan soon, Han Solo prepared everything for the re-entry into realspace. Normally on any decent ship, the computer would do that automatically, but Han didn't trust the computer, not since that one time...

Han shoved the memory of that incident aside. He had a job to do, and if he should really get the 15000 from the old man after delivering them on Alderann, he would have no problem with paying Jabba and thus getting his head out of the sling. Wouldn't be the first time he made a narrow escape. He didn't care from where they would get the money, the same way he also didn't care where his customers got their cargo from most of the time, as long as he was paid. Then he noticed a light on the dashboard.

Han counted the last seconds. "Ok, Chewie! Jump back to normal space in 3..2..1!" At once the hyperspace-effect vanished from sight with starlines, and the planet of Alderaan came into view, exactly as planned. However, not only Alderaan, but something else too, and he flew towards it with the still high exit-speed!

"OH SHIT!" Han shouted, before pushing the ship hard to the right, barely missing the large object in his way while the ship decelerated to normal speed. Luke and Obi-Wan had seen what happened when they heard that shout, storming into the cockpit, seeing the near-miss. Finally the ship came into clear space.

"You call yourself a pilot?! You nearly crashed us into that moon!" Luke started to curse at Han. "I wonder where you got you license!" Luke was angry that some second-rate smuggler had nearly killed them all because of his own foolishness.

But the only thing these words did was make Han angry. "Watch it kid!" he threatened Luke, "Any more out of you and I will throw you out of the bottom hatch while we're still in orbit!" Of course he could have never done it, despite his rough image Chewie reminded him that sometimes he simply had a too big of a heart, but the threat also made Luke shut up, which was all he wanted. The kid might be enthusiastic, but was a total rookie. He had seen enough of these at the Imperial Academy to know the kind.

Obi-Wan tensed, something felt very, very wrong all of a sudden. And he remembered something from his school days. "Alderaan never had a moon." _Why do I have the feeling that we are about to face something very dangerous?_

"No moon? Then what..." Han stopped when the ship turned around, and he got a perfect view of that moon-sized mechanical nightmare they had mistaken for a moon. "I think we're in trouble!" That thing was quite obviously a space station, but so huge that it boggled the mind. Suddenly the Falcon was pulled towards that huge monster. Han frantically checked the controls. "We're caught in a tractor beam. Chewie, lock in the auxiliary engines!"

The ship started to rock, but they were still pulled towards the huge station. "Why are we still moving towards it?" Luke asked slightly panicked, feeling quite frightened by that huge, intimidating machine.

"The engine can't break us free. I have to shut down before it burns out!" The sound of the engines died while the Death Star seemed to grow larger with each second. "But they're not going to get me without a fight," Han added with determination, althrough he knew that propably there were millions of soldiers and stormtroopers on that thing. He felt so helpless, a feeling he hated with a passion.

Obi-Wan looked at Luke, who was taken aback by the size of the thing. Now he knew what the data was that had been put intro R2. He had seen much in all his years, but that dwarfed everything. Sure, there were systems with even bigger structures, but there were immobile and constructed over time, while this obviously was a mobile battle station constructed in mere years, and looking at the huge dish on its northern hemisphere, he shuddered to think what kind firepower it had.

Then Obi-Wan focused on Han "You can't win. But there are alternatives to fighting..."

Meanwhile the Falcon was pulled towards the equatorial tench where the hangar bays were located. The soldiers at the controls overlooking the hangar bays at the section of the tench directly under the main weapon recieved new orders while watching the Falcon being pulled in.

"Clear bay 327. We're opening the magnetic field." Seconds later the Falcon was pulled into said hangar and stormtroopers stormed into the bay to secure the ship at once, starting a search at once after managing to open the hatch from the outside.

* * *

_...in Vader's chambers..._

"All right, you will take me to the cell block and get Leia. Then you mind-trick the guards, telling them that nothing has occurred. Then you will take us to a shuttle so that Leia and I can flee without being bothered by fighters, since it is registered with the flight control," Amidala replayed their plan, then checked the binders on her hands. They weren't locked, but it looked real.

Vader first had thought that she was joking about freeing Leia, but Padmè had been very serious about it. In the end his wish to not cause even more harm to his own child than he had already caused had surpassed his sense for duty. It was a little frightening that while he wouldn't have even thought about letting her go days ago, he now did so. He really had to be careful.

"Good." They had made this plan in haste, but it seemed fool-proof. And once they were safe, he would feel much better, even though he would be seperated from her again. He felt strange, more alive than in years, but of course 19 years couldn't be simply erased, having left their mark on him. He wouldn't be again like the Anakin of old, but right now he also had started to slowly move away from the cold Vader. He would be his own man.

Vader then replaced his mask and prepared to escort her out, when his comm beeped. "Damn! Why now of all times?" He answered it roughly and with little patience. "What is it!?"

"Lord Vader, Governor Tarkin requests your presence in Hangar 327. We have captured a freighter that had entered the system. It has the same registration number as a ship that had fled from Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine," the man on the other end reported.

Vader should have known what it meant, but his thoughts were elsewhere, he only felt of it as a huge distraction right now. That, and that Tarkin still tried to command him around, even if it was packed as a request, felt like a huge offense to him. "I will come at once!" He ended the connection. He turned to his wife "I have no choice but to attend to this matter. I will call two guards to escort you gently into Leia's cell. I will come as soon as I can....." He then stopped for some seconds. "I feel that Tarkin plans something. And a danger. Better be careful.... Do you think that she will recognize you?"

Padmè thought about it. "No. She was young when we were ripped apart, and I have aged since she last saw me. As long as I do not mention it, she propably won't remember me."

"Good, wait here for the guards. I will come to the cell block as soon as possible." Then Vader left, after giving the orders and made his way to the hangar, annoyed at this interruption of his plans. He hated to leave Padmè alone, but that couldn't be helped right now.

After some minutes he arrived and stood looking at the corellian freighter in amazement.

The freighter was a piece of junk! Even he would have thought twice before entering a spaceship in such a bad condition, which meant something, as he had flown some questionable craft in his years. He had seen many YT-2000 in his life, but this one was a hot contestor for the most sloppy maintained one. Captain Khurgee waited with his stormtroopers at the entrance ramp, ready to give his report on the initial search.

"There's no one on board, sir. According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff. It must be a decoy, sir. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned," he reported.

"Did you found any droids?" Vader finally remembered the reports from Tatooine, as vague as they were. Was someone planning on returning the Death Star plans to Leia?

"No, sir. If there were any on board, they must also have jettisoned," Khurgee ended his report.

"Send a scanning crew on board. I want every part of this ship checked thoroughly!" he commanded, and then stopped. There was something at the back of his mind. "I sense something. A presence I haven't felt since...."

_KENOBI! _He screamed in rage through the Force. _This old man dares to come here!? After all he had done to me!? He will regret coming here; crawling out from the stone he had hidden under! _Fuming, Vader went off to find Tarkin to formally telling him that he would hunt his old master.

His hatred made him temporarily forget about Amidala. His hatred for Obi-Wan was so great that it overshadowed anything else. And altrough he would deny it, this tunnel view would remind Amidala greatly of the Anakin of Mustafar, having lost sight of anything else outside of his current object of attention. Later he would remember that sending her away was a good idea as long as he still was like this.

Meanwhile, the stormtroopers left the hangar, leaving only two to guard the ship. The scanning crew entered the ship with their scanner systems. Suddenly, a loud crash sounded within the ship, as if something heavy had hit the floor, and the stormtroopers were called.

"Hey you two! Can you give us a hand for a moment?"

The troopers didn't think that anything was wrong. Most likely one of the crew had been clumsy and dropped the heavy equipment, so they had to help out. After the troopers entered the ship nothing was heard except two stunshots.

Nothing happened until an officer in the control room above the hangar deck noticed the absence of the guards at the ship. "TK-241! Why have you left your post?" he demanded over the comm.

* * *

_...on the way the cell block AA-23..._

Amidala was silent while the elevator took her, along with her two black- helmeted guards, to the cell block where her daughter was imprisoned. She had to wait for nearly 20 minutes before the guards came to get her. It was as if they were in no haste to take her to her destination. They hadn't questioned Anakin's orders, even though they had no idea who she was or where she came from. But considering how big this battlestation was, this was only to be expected.

At least the guards left her in peace. It had advantages that the proxy of the Emperor wasn't questioned about his orders. And it seemed if Darth Vader gave you a direct order. you better followed it to the letter, or you were in trouble. As much as she hated this reputation of his, it sometimes had advantges to scare the living daylights out of people.

Finally the door opened and she saw a typical cell block. The Lieutenant on duty noticed the new arrivals, and she didn't like the looks he gave her. She knew that look, and the kind of men giving them to woman. That he looked at her like that, despite her already advanced age (although 46 wasn't old for her), that spoke volumes.

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked the guards, not taking his eyes off her. His looks literally screamed _'wow, despite advanced age still a hot babe'._

One of the guards gave him the datapad with the orders. "Orders from Lord Vader himself. She is to be taken to the same cell as Princess Leia of Alderaan." The Lieutenant was studying the document when one of the other elevators opened, revealing two stormtroopers escorting a cuffed Wookie into the cell block.

The Lieutenant put away the datapad, looking to the newcomers. Unlike with Amidala, he now looked disgusted. Amidala added to her negative list of that guy, that he propably was also xenophobic.

"Where are you taking this...thing?" he asked the troopers.

"Re-locating a prisoner from cell block 11-38," one of the stormtroopers said. He was a bit strange, Amidala thought. She thought that the drafting rules and rules for free entry into the stormtrooper corps included a minimum height requirement. But maybe the responsible recruiting officer had been lazy. Her thoughts went no further as the on-duty officer answered the trooper.

"I wasn't notified of it. I'll have to clear it." He went to the big console on the guard post while the guards started to take the Wookie to a cell with their weapons drawn just in case.

_Something tells me that something is wrong..... _Padmè thought, watching this scene. And that thought became reality when the Wookie freed himself, smacked a guard down, and grabbed a blaster. "Look out! He's loose!" the other trooper cried and drew his weapon.

Amidala wasted no time. Her survival instinct kicked in in the second she saw all the drawn weapons. She ripped off the open binders before diving behind the consoles of the guard post.

Then all hell broke loose.

The whole room was fast reduced to a mess of blaster shots and smoke, when a wild shoot-out ensured, and Padmè didn't care what exactly happend, only that she would get out of it alive. _Why can't something go according to plan for once?_

Amidala shrieked when a guard fell dead beside her on the floor, a blackened hole on his chest where a blaster bolt had flash-burned his heart. After what she thought to be an eternity, the noise stopped and she dared to look over the ende of the console, only to look into three blaster barrels for a second, before the shorter one of the troopers made a dismissing gesture

"No Han, she doesn't look like a guard, more like a prisoner." The trooper then looked to her, stretching out his hand towards her to help her up. "We are here to rescue the princess. If you want to get out of this station, come with us..."

Looking around, she noticed that all the guards were dead, and that all defense systems and cameras were destroyed. _The Rebels seem to have already started a rescue mission. I must go with them, otherwise Anakin will do things to them I do not want to imagine.... _She accepted the hand to help her up, and took a blaster from a dead guard. "I'll come with you."

"Hey kid!" the other trooper shouted to them. "The cell number of your princess is 21-87! Go and get her, our friend and I here will hold the line!" And while the short trooper vanished into the cell block, the other took his helmet off, revealing brown hair, and hurried to answer the beeping comm. "Everything is under control. Situation normal."

_"What happened?"_

"Uh...had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?"

_"We're sending a squad up."_

"Uh, uh, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak...very dangerous."

_"Who is this? What's your operating number?"_

Amidala rolled her eyes when she watched the man blasting the comm, not that this was helping their situation. That he hadn't even managed to convince them that everything was alright, that was telling. She would have found it funny, if it weren't their lives that were at risk right now, and wondered what the man on the other end must think now.

"It was a boring conversation anyway..." he muttered before shouting into the cell block "Luke! Hurry up, we will get visitors soon!"

_Luke? _Padmè froze on the spot. It was perhaps only wishful thinking, but could this be her son? It was really far-fetched, but hadn't the transmission said something about a freighter from Tatooine? She would have to be sure and ran into the cell block, only to hear an exchange in the cell from the outside.

"I'm Luke Skywalker! I'm here to rescue you!"

"You're who?"

"I'm here to rescue you. I've got your R2 unit. I'm here with Ben Kenobi!"

Padmè stopped on the spot, when he heared this name. And when the two of them left the cell, she knew for sure that it was true. The young man was her son. She had always had imagined him to resemble Anakin, but she would have never dreamed how much he did so. He was truely his father's son, only a little shorter. And her daughter... Leia had grown to a beautiful woman, the holos Bail had given to her didn't really do her justice. And Anakin was right, she looked a lot like her mother.

And there were both of her children, re-united, and totally unaware of this fact! No, she would correct this as soon as they would have managed to get out of this trouble. They deserved the truth, and she didn't any longer wanted to leave them in the dark. But they had to say alive long enough to escape, that was right now the problem at hand.

* * *

_...in the Death Star conference room..._

"HE is here!" Vader said, deathly serious. The anger from what he had discovered still present in his voice, althrough he had regained enough control to stay calm by now. Many years in the suit had taught him the patience he had lacked in his youth. However, he couldn't wait to go on the hunt after clearing this formality.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi! What makes you think so?" _Because I don't want to believe everything you say, you hulking machine! _Tarkin added in thoughts, his immense dislike for Vader coming through. In all the years he knew Vader, he had become steadily more jealous of Vader's position beside the Emperor. And he saw him as a threat.

"A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master." _And when I'm finished with him, you are the next on my list you arrogant technocrat!_ Vader added silently. Only the Emperor's wish kept Tarkin alive. Otherwise he would have killed him already long ago.

"Surely he must be dead by now," Tarkin insisted. No way a man could survive the wrath of the Empire for 19 years, while all other Jedi were killed in the big purge. It was simply ridiculous.

Vader was insulted. This little man hadn't any idea of the power of the force, even after hi little demonstration. But he had to live with that, there were simply too many disbelievers now in the galaxy. "Don't underestimate the power of the Force," he reminded him.

"The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion." He had witnessed first hand the destruction of the Jedi, he was sure that they were forever in the past now. Then the beeping of the comm distracted him. He answered it. "Yes!?"

_"Governeur Tarkin, we have an emergency alert in detention block AA-23!"  
_  
"The princess? Put all sections on alert!" Tarkin shouted before ending the connection. That was the last thing he would need now. On the other hand it opened interesting possibilities...

Vader froze, finally remembering Amidala and Leia. He cursed himself for forgetting them in his anger. He had already proven why it would be the best to send the two of them as far away from him, as possible. _That is their cell block! If this idiot Obi-Wan has hurt them, his death will be even more painful than I had already planned! I have to intervene, but Obi-Wan will come immediately after that.... _"Obi-Wan IS here! The Force is with him!"

"If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape." Tarkin was sure Vader had planned this, because Vader enjoyed being on the winning side. Kenobi's death would raise his worth in the eyes of the Emperor.

"Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone!" _But before that I must take steps to make sure Amidala and Leia manage to escape! _Quickly Vader left the conference room.

Tarkin looked after him. "My 'friend'....be surprised what will happen. Not only you can make plans. I have also surprises up my sleeve." At once Tarkin started to give orders. This plan he had just concieved would finally bring him all the power he wanted.

* * *

_...cell block AA-23..._

"Chewie! Get behind me! Get behind me!" Han screamed when hearing the charging up of a blaster rifle from inside the elevator.

**-BRAAAMMM-**

The door of one of the elevators was blown open by the stormtroopers with an full power shot, after they had realised that it was the only way to get through the locked door. At once they stormed in. The first fell under Han's fire, but they forced him and Chewbacca back with concentrated fire, forcing them to flee into the cell corridor.

"We can't get out that way," Han called, when he met the others mid-way. He had a feeling that they were now in real trouble.

Leia couldn't believe it. That was supposed to be her rescue, and they had managed to already get stuck in the detention block? She felt that her future suddenly looked even darker than it already did. "Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route."

"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Your Highness," Han answered sarcastically. He didn't like it when people went smart-ass on him. Not even a well-built girl like her. But he was cut off when the stormtroopers decided that they should start to make target practise with them.

Padmè wondered, while shooting blindly to keep the stormtroopers at bay, what was more dangerous: the stormtroopers trying to shoot them, or her children and that man having a battle of words at the same time. Especially her daughter seemed to be quick with words, something she obviously had inherited from Anakin.

It ended when Leia had enough, and simply shot the grating over a trash chute, nearly roasting the man in the process. (It seemed that recklessness was to be added to her list of Leia's personality traits) Padmè was disgusted by the thought of jumping into a pile of trash, mixed in with things she didn't even want to name, but when only she and the pilot were left, she threw all disgust overboard and simply jumped.

_Better than getting killed by stormtroopers! _She thought while sliding down the sloppy path.

* * *

_...a corridor..._

"All right sir, hangar 327 will be cleared!" the trooper acknowledged over the comm.

Vader had ordered the freighter to be left alone. Even if that ship looked half wrecked, he would have to make sure that Amidala and his daughter were able to reach it, since the last reports said that they had escaped the detention block. So he ordered all bridges to be extended and all corridor-doors to be opened, before erasing the memories of those to whom he had given the orders. After this mess was over, he also would erase all computer evidence.

Now he only had to wait for Obi-Wan to arrive, and only one would survive the meeting this time. He knew, Obi-Wan would come to him, he only had to be patient. His hatred was burning in him when he un-clipped his lightsaber and walked to a tactically wise position to wait for his prey to arrive.

Waiting, he wondered where Padmè and Leia were right now. He only knew that he had to hope that they made it. There was nothing more he could do now. Ordering the troops not to harm them would blow his and Padmè's cover.

Hopefully they were all right.

* * *

_...at the same time..._

_Bizarre that I end this way....crushed by a huge trash compactor... What an end... _Padmè thought, while feeling that in seconds there wouldn't be much space left.

Things had literally gone from bad to worse once she had jumped into the trash chute. First she had landed into a knee-deep mixture of the stuff that the imperial soldiers flushed down their toilets (she smelt very clearly that this wasn't water), then this Han Solo had nearly killed them when his blaster bolt made a literal dance through the whole chamber, THEN her son got nearly eaten by a monster living in this distgusting stuff, and NOW they were about to get crushed to death in tons of junk while her son franatically tried to reach C-3PO to tell him to turn it off.

She wondered how she did it to find such creative ways to go during her life. Nearly getting chopped to pieces in a geonosian factory, almost being submerged in molten metal in the same factory, choked by her own husband, coming close to dying because of a broken heart, almost getting blown up with an entire planet... and now this.

She felt all the trash starting to crush her, when suddenly the walls stopped. _Either a miracle...or Luke managed to get through... _After some laughter of relief that they had narrowly escaped death, they finally made it out of the now open hatch.

Padmè hoped that she could find a shower soon, while watching Han and Luke getting out of the stormtrooper armor. Or better, all of them needed a shower. Especially her son after his unintentional bath smelled like... Well, she didn't want to spell it out.

They finally wanted to go on, when suddenly the monster tried to climb out of the hatch, resulting in Han Solo shooting it. Something that could be heard from miles away. Her daughter seemed annoyed by his attitude, and seemed to have enough. "Listen. I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you. Okay?" she told him in a voice that Padmè recognised from her days as a queen, when lecturing someone.

Solo seemed actually insulted. "Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight! I take orders from one person- me!"

"It's a wonder you're still alive. Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?" Without anything further to say, Leia walked to the front of the group, while they made their way back to the hangar.

"No reward is worth this," Han groaned.

Padmè couldn't help it, but her list of Anakin's traits she saw in her daughter became again longer. Seemed that the bossy attitude he sometimes showed off was also present in her. Althrough she had to admit that sometimes she was like this, too. While the pilot, she could easily see through. She had often enough seen men who wanted to be in full control of their destiny, and felt threatened once some dared to enter this space. Looking to Luke, she hadn't found out much yet about his character traits, only that he seemed enthusiastic and yet the calmest of the group.

Thankfully they managed to make progress without trouble, almost as if that section was deserted. Finally they arrived at the deck above the hangar. Looking through the viewport, Padmè first wondered why the imperials would stash junk in their hangar bays, until she realised that this was supposed to be their escape ship.

"THIS is our escape ship? Why do I feel as if I have forgotten to write my last will?" she openly wondered.

"Yes, if he has come in that, our Captain must be a braver man than I had thought," Leia added, also having trouble to believe that this would be their ride to safety.

"No one seems to see inner beauty..." Han grumbled. What was it with people saying that his ship was a piece of junk? Then they made haste to get down to the hangar. Hopefully Obi-Wan had managed to deactivate the tractor beam by now. But after only going around a few corners, they nearly bumped into a stormtrooper patrol.

"It's them! Blast them!" the lead trooper cried, but Han was faster, shooting one trooper. The others fled in seeming instinctive panic. "Get back to the ship!" Han shouted, before vanishing with Chewie behind a corner to pursue the troopers.

"He certainly has courage," Leia had to admit.

"What good will it do us if he gets himself killed? Come on!" Luke urged them, and they ran on, when hearing more troopers coming towards them.

**"YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH**-woah!!" Shouting like a berserker, Han followed the troopers, only to stop at once when he saw that they had led him into a trap! Hundreds of stormtroopers were in a hangar for a roll call! Immediately panic gripped Han, and he ran away, Chewbacca in tow.

_That is what I get for trying to behave like an idiot! _He cursed himself while blaster fire shot past them.

* * *

_...in another corridor...  
_  
Luke really wondered who this woman with them was, while they tried to outrun the stormtroopers. From the first moment he saw her, something, maybe the Force, told him that she was to be fully trusted. It was as if he knew her somehow, and knew that she was on their side. He was sure that there was more to it, but it eluded him for the moment. He should ask Ben once they were out of this mess.

She had given them no name yet, but it really wasn't the time for it right now. The stormtroopers pursued them though the corridors, and when looking at her he had asked himself how long she could keep up the pace.

Amidala wonder this, too. She wasn't anymore as young as she once had been, she had limits. And she felt a minute more of this, and she would have spent her breath. _I...should have definitely...kept myself in better shape. Ohhh....now I regret the occassional fine alderaanian pie!_

Finally they reached a ramp that led to a bridge over a giant air circulation shaft. Suddenly her son stopped, when seeing this. "Wait, I have an idea!" he shouted, then smacked the door controls to close the blast door behind them, before roasting the controls with his blaster to prevent the troopers from opening it again. Running on the other side, he shut off the bridge, before destroying these controls as well. "Now they can't follow us! Come now!"

While they left in less a hurry than before, Padmè felt pride in her son. He had used his brains to solve the situation, instead of crashing his head through the wall as Anakin would surely have done!

* * *

_...yet another corridor..._

Han felt like an idiot. His stupid action had let him and Chewie pursued by hundreds of troopers. Randomly shooting behind him while running, they tried to escape before they would turn them into grilled Bantha.

The lead trooper saw his chance when he saw the blast door at the far edge of the corridor. "Close the blast doors!" he commanded to the sector control, and the heavy door started to close at once. But it was his bad luck that Han and Chewbacca managed to get through before the door closed fully, in turn stopping the pursuit of the stormtroopers when their chase ended before the closed door. "Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!" the lead trooper shouted, already seeing his promotion flying away oblivion.

* * *

_...and yet another corridor...  
_

Making his way back to the hangar, Obi-Wan was surprised how easy it had been to shut down the tractor beam. In the Clone Wars, he had been faced with much greater challenges. The Imperial must be really slacking off. His hopes to get out had risen considerably, althrough he was still prepared for everything. But then he was hit by a wave of dread.

What Obi-Wan felt could mean only one thing.... Vader was near.

Now the time had come to finally be eye to eye with what Anakin had become after that fateful day on Mustafar. Before that event, there had still been hope to turn Anakin back, but his injuries had made him so bitter, so hateful, that all hope was lost. Obi-Wan had hoped that it would never come to this confrontation, but some things it seemed couldn't be avoided.

_"I hate you!" _These words from the crippled Vader had been the final dagger into his heart.

Obi-Wan stopped. Vader was there, before him. And so close to the Falcon, only two corners away! He had ignited his red lightsaber, obviously already waiting for him. Quick, Obi-Wan ignited his own saber and Vader advanced slowly.

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan! We meet again at last. The circle is now complete!" _Complete with your death, old fool! Now is payment day! _The anger in him was too much; he HAD to kill this old man to be finally free of him! "When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master!"

Obi-Wan felt the anger directed at him. It was hurtful to see that this had happened to his old padawan. _It is my failure that caused this to happen. I never reached his heart or soul, only taught him. Nobody ever reached his feelings, apart from Amidala and his mother of course. _Even more frightening was how calm Vader was, despite the enormous anger in him. A testament how much more dangerous he now was.

"Only a master of evil, Darth!" Then the duel began.

They exchanged blows fast, but neither could get an advantage, althrough it seemed that Vader wasn't yet out for the kill. More that he wanted to drive him to desperation first. Obi-Wan knew that Vader wanted to get every second out of this.....Vader was actually _enjoying_ wearing him down! And while the duel went on, he had to admit that Vader was strong, far stronger than he thought, while he himself was old, his body starting to weaken.

Vader felt that weakness. Feeling that now, even in his crippled state, he was superior to Kenobi, gave him an additional boost of statisfaction. "Your powers are weak, old man!" he taunted, enjoying every moment of it.

"You can't win Darth! If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!" _Yes, as a martyr for Luke who then would be eager to kill his own father! In truth I'm also not much better than him when I have to resort to such tactics! _Then he barely blocked Vader's next strike.

Vader was annoyed. This old man still tried to use empty words to impress him, which had never worked. "You should not have come back!"

The duel went on, but now Vader seemed done with playing around, and his powerful blows forced Obi-Wan to retreat further and further. _Unbelievable how powerful he has become! He his truely the Chosen One....but one the wrong side! _But at least he noticed, that the general direction he was forcing him was towards the hangar.

Soon Vader saw that Obi-Wan was standing with his back to the door to the hangar, where the ship was. Several people and droids started to run to the ship, but two stopped when they saw the duel. One of them was Padmè, so she was safe, much to Vader's relief. The other was a young man with blond hair who radiated strongly in the force.

_Kenobi's padawan? _Vader wondered. It was definitely a possibility, considering how much time had went by since he had last seen him._  
_  
Vader felt the thoughts of his wife very clearly: '_Don't' even dare to think about killing Obi-Wan!' _

But he only halfway heard her words, because the young man had caught his full interest. He reminded him strongly of himself, as if... Trying to get a deeper impression of him, Vader got one name, that burned itself down to his core_. Luke Skywalker! This boy is my son?....Two children?... Why hadn't Padmè...? Of course not, idiot! She doesn't trust you yet! She would have been stupid to tell you. _

Coming back to the present, he wanted to strike down Kenobi, but he had vanished.

Looking to the freighter he saw Kenobi running with his last reserves of strength up the ramp while it was already starting to close, before the freighter left the empty hangar in a hurry. Vader turned off his lightsaber, looking after the fleeing freighter.

Kenobi had escaped. But his family had also escaped, as he had wished. And they left behind a dark lord deep in his own thoughts.

The blue sphere of Alderaan grew smaller behind the Falcon as it accelerated away before jumping to hyperspace without being bothered by fighters. Perhaps they were all needed on Alderaan to help ensure control, until things had cooled down.

Obi-Wan felt exhausted. Even using the Force to speed up his run to the Falcon hadn't helped, his age had made itself known. He knew many would call it a coward's decision, and actually he had been prepared to actually die, but in the end he had decided that he could help Luke more when he was alive, instead of dead. That and despite knowing that there was something after life, he still had been scared enough of dying to make a run for it as soon as Vader was distracted.

Luke, his padawan learner, sat concerned beside him, and he felt his worry over him. Obi-Wan had accepted that thought as soon as it entered his mind. Luke would be his apprentice, now that they come out of the battlestation alive. If Luke even wanted to stand a chance, he had to train him. What use was the Force, if he couldn't access it? And he knew that Luke was more than ready for it, and very eager to learn. All good signs.

He then looked to Leia. She was checking to see if the data banks in R2 were still intact. He was glad that she was unharmed, and that they had found her by pure coincidence. He wondered if she even knew that her long-lost twin brother was no six meters away from her. He had never thought about her in his plans, but obviously a decision had to be made soon.

And then he turned to look at the surprise guest with them. Amidala hadn't aged very well, probably more because of the sorrows she had endured, but she still was beautiful for a woman of 46 years. He didn't know why the Force she was on that battlestation, that was surely a story in itself, but since he wanted to re-unite her with her son anyway, he was just glad that she was here with them. He knew, her honesty would made her tell her children the truth, but concerning Anakin, he had to "talk" with her first, or it would end in desaster.

Finally safety! Amidala couldn't wait to talk to her children as soon as she could get their whole attention. For now she focused on Obi-Wan. Time had been not kind to the Jedi. His hair thin, and along with his beard, as white as snow by now. Padmè could see the effect of 19 hard years on him, he looked older than he actually was.

_-Amidala, I need to talk to you. Silently please....- _She heard Obi-Wan's voice in her head! After the first scare, she became calm.

-_What do you want Obi-Wan?- _She thought to him.

-_You can't tell your children about Anakin being Vader yet! It would devastate them. All other things yes, but I beg you, don't tell them that!-_

Amidala considered. Obi-Wan was right, it would only make them extremely angry, and perhaps with tendencies to go the same path that Anakin had went. -_Ok, I will still tell them about Anakin, but I will twist the truth a little, but no lies! Because I could never lie to them!- _She felt his approval and remained silent.

Right then Han Solo walked in, being sure that no one followed them through hyperspace. "Ok sister, where to? I can't wait to finish this job and get paid!" Han Solo asked Leia.

Leia lost her self-control upon hearing these words from such an arrogant man "How could you think only about money?! You have seen that thing. Many could lose their lives and you only think about money?"

Finally Han had it. This woman had done nothing other than provoke him, now he would tell her why! "Now listen! I'm only after the money because otherwise it would be MY life that would be lost! I have to pay a Hutt who'll be happy to murder me if I betray him! He threatened me with death, so don't throw some moral issue at me! I have very good reasons!"

Leia stared at him, shocked at his outburst. Then she lowered her head in shame. Of course it was a good reason, because this man feared for his life if he was not paid! She was duped by his arrogant facade, but now he had shown her that behind it was pure, naked fear for his life. "Sorry.. I... I didn't know that. I hope you can forgive me Captain.... Of course you will be paid.... We must go to the Yavin system. The base is on the fourth moon of its biggest gas giant."

Han nodded "Good... I accept your apology. Next time don't judge people you barely know...." He wanted to return to the cockpit, when he added. "Ok, and you guys better wash up, especially you, Kid, start to smell like a refresher bowl." Then Han left. He had to admit, she was quite a looker. Maybe a princess and a guy like him...?

* * *

_...Death Star overbridge..._

Vader was still deep in thoughts over this new relevation that he had an even bigger family than he had first thought, when he entered the overbridge. To his surprise, Tarkin was in a rather good mood, despite the events that happened in the last minutes on his battle station. That alone made Vader suspicious, because it meant that Tarkin had planned something, which couldn't be good.

Finally the Grand Moff noticed Vader.

"Looks like Obi-Wan escaped you despite your assumption that he wouldn't..." Tarkin enjoyed what he thought as a barb for Vader. "But that won't matter. In fact, in a few hours there will be nothing left of the Rebel base!" _And then I can lower you in the favor with the Emperor!_ Tarkin gloated in his thoughts. He had improvised that plan, but it was a great idea, and had worked perfect.

At once Vader tensed. Tarkin was intelligent, and without any qualms against the murder of innocents to achieve his goals. That was what in the end made it possible for him to rise to this high position in the first place. Exactly the sort of military leader the Emperor liked, ruthless, brutal, and yet cunning and smart. He said nothing, waiting for Tarkin to continue.

"I had ordered a signal beacon attached to the ship. When they leave hyperspace, we can follow them. And then the Rebellion will be destroyed with a swift strike!" Tarkin then left the overbridge, pleased with himself, leaving Vader alone on the bridge with the on-duty crew.

_Why does everyone want to bring harm to them? _Vader cursed. Now again his family was in danger, and this time he could do nothing against it, only hoping for the best.

* * *

_...on the Falcon, half an hour later..._

It had taken a little, but they had managed to get out the smell. Especially Luke felt much better now, and still was amazed that he was able to use real water (stuff that was very expensive on Tatooine). He actually felt a little like living in sin. Finally all four sat at the table and Luke noticed something when seeing Padmè and Obi-Wan exchanging looks. "Ehr...you and Ben seem to know each other. Are you some kind of friends?"

_Ben? Oh yes, Obi-Wan told me he would change his name, when he left to watch over my son. _Padmè answered his question then as seriously as possible. "Oh yes Luke, Obi-Wan is a friend of mine. A really old friend, we've known each other for over 30 years now."

"I know that this may sound a little strange for you, but did you also know my father, Anakin Skywalker? Ben told me that he trained and fought together with him...until he was murdered by Vader." Luke's voice dropped when he mentioned Vader. It was clear that he was all too eager to avenge his father.

Amidala sent icy feelings to Obi-Wan. Telling her son that Anakin was dead, murdered by Vader, was not what she thought of as twisting the truth a little. For her it was a pure lie, but she would correct it. "Yes...I knew him VERY well. He was the strongest Jedi in the entire order. One of the best looking men! Women had his picture in their rooms, the great hero of the Clone Wars. You should know how much you look like him. He would be proud of you what a fine young man you've become!"

Luke's cheeks reddened a bit at this praise "You seem to know so much about him, but I don't even know your name.... For a start, what are you called?"

Padmè strengthened herself. Now this was the point of no return. Telling him now would open pandora's box, and then she could only hope for the best. Inhaling a last time, she said "My name is Padmè Amidala Skywalker, your mother, Luke."

_**to be continued...**_


	4. The Skywalkers reunited

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

* * *

**Chapter 3-The Skywalkers reunited**

"My...mother...?" Luke had no idea what to feel about that. He looked to Obi-Wan for help.

"She says the truth, young Luke. She is Anakin's wife, I was actually there when you were born. Trust your feelings, and you will see that it is true," Ben gently said, knowing that this must have been a little shock for Luke.

"I never knew... Uncle Owen never wanted to talk about it, it seemed to make him sad. Aunt Beru almost cried the one time I asked her..." Luke again looked to the woman who could be his mother, still not entirely sure about it.

Padmè knew it was somewhat hard for her son to swallow that. "They didn't know that I was still alive. I faked my death because otherwise the Emperor would have hunted me down, and I didn't want to endanger you. Obi-Wan and Bail Organa were two of the few that knew I was still alive."

Luke looked her into the eyes. Many said the eyes were the mirror of the soul. He saw pain and sadness, but also hope. He felt pictures appearing before his mind's eye. A beautiful woman, broken with grief and sadness. Then it felt as if someone held him, and he saw her sadness replaced with joy, when seeing him. He knew it should be impossible to remember things from when you were a baby, but after he had felt the Force for the first time, he knew that everything could be possible. And right at this moment he knew that it was the truth.

"Mother..." He might have lost his father to Vader, but this relevation for now overlaid it. Padmè hugged him while he almost was overwhelmed by emotions. "I thought I would never...I know nothing about you..."

"Shhh... I won't leave you again. This time I'm here to stay..." she soothed him, while looking to Leia, who seemed a little embarrassed to intrude in such a private family matter. "But there are more I have to reveal." Still holding her son, she turned her attention to her daughter.

Her mention of Bail earlier finally made Leia break her silence. "You said Bail knew of you. Are you a good friend of his?" she asked.

"Oh yes. We are very close friends, I don't know where I would be now without his help. "I was there for him when his first wife died... what a wonderful and warm-hearted woman she had been. And he helped be through my darkest hours..."

"I wish I could share a bond like you and your son do... I never knew my real parents. Uncle Bail said he would tell me when the time is right... Now he will never tell me." Leia's depression connected to Bail's arrest returned. She propably would never see him again. "And I will never know."

"Actually, no. I and Obi-Wan know it as well," Padmè corrected her.

THAT got her attention and she got quite nervous. "P-please tell me! I wondered for years."

Amidala looked to Obi-Wan, waiting for him to start the explanation. "I thought it would be obvious, young Leia. Look at Amidala. Look closely."

She did, but at first she had no idea what to look for. However, it hit her after a while. "That can't be possible."

Padmè saw her daughter struggling with the truth she had just seen. "You have seen the truth. I helped you through the first years of your life, before Bail's horrible second wife took you away from me. I was almost broken with grief and Bail felt horrible he couldn't do anything against it." A tear rolled down her cheek when she remembered these horrible days. "Bail never wanted to replace your father. He hoped that one day, we could be together again... And I hoped that one day I would be finally re-united with both of my children."

Leia had learned much emotional control in her life, but right now this control crumbled when some of her best-kept memories returned to her. They were vague, but the pictures of the woman that loved her so much always warmed her heart. "I...I..." No, she didn't know what to say. Instead she opted to emulate her newfound brother, and hugged her mother.

Obi-Wan watched, as the children were finally reunited with their mother. Even he was emotionally touched by this moment, and could literally feel them radiate joy. If only Anakin could have been there... but that was wishful thinking. He would never be there again.

* * *

_...in the Death Star..._

Vader walked aimlessly through the corridors of the huge battlestation. Tarkin's plan to locate the Rebel base could once again bring doom to his family, and this time he couldn't do anything, because the hunting of Rebels was Tarkin's matter. While he had the means to prevent a mass slaughter as Tarkin wanted to do on Alderaan, he was powerless in this matter.

_I have the power but I can't use it!_

His brooding ended, when suddenly a bright light entered his mind, stopping him in his tracks. At first he was concerned; he didn't know what it was. But then he relaxed and he felt it clearly. Amidala was finally reunited with their children. The joy and love they radiated found their way to him though the bonds of family and love, he was with them, even at that distance. A broad smile appeared on his lips under the mask. Even if he was not with them now, he was still part of them.

There was someone out there, who loved him. And in time, the family would finally be fully re-united.

* * *

_...Millenium Falcon..._

They had hugged for minutes before finally seperating. Padmè now really wanted to tell them the whole story, they deserved the truth. Their whole lives they had been in the dark about their family, so now it was about time that they knew everything. She began to tell them the whole story. She told them of the blockade of Naboo, and of Anakin's life as a slave, the battle of Naboo. Then of ten years later, when they fell in love, and after the horrors of Geonosis, married. Of how they managed to get through the Clone Wars and her getting pregnant with them. The Battle of Coruscant.

The twins listened with fascination. True, they, especially Leia, had went through some of that stuff in history at school. But now that it concerned them personally, it grew to a different dimension.

And now came the part where she knew she had to bend the truth a little, so that her children wouldn't learn the hard truth too early. "...then came the day that started the murder of the Jedi. Palpatine, after declaring the Jedi as traitors who tried to murder him, created the Empire. At the same time, Vader went into the temple with soldiers to murder all of them...even the children."

Padmè had accepted the truth, after Obi-Wan had told her everything, but it was still hard to accept that Anakin had done that. She saw that the children were also quite shocked. "I had no idea what happened to Anakin, until Obi-Wan told me the truth... Palpatine wanted Anakin alive. Anakin is still, until up to this day, a prisoner of the Emperor, who fears him, because Anakin is the Chosen One." _And that isn't even really a lie. Anakin himself told me, that he is a slave to Palpatine, much to his sorrow._

"Ben, you said, my father was dead! And what is it with 'the Chosen One'?" Luke said angrily to Obi-Wan. He had been so sure of his father's death. To now hear that he actually was alive. He hated it to be lied at.

"Luke, I wanted to spare you to harsh truth! You would have only gotten stupid ideas and endangered yourself to free Anakin! You can't help your father by getting caught, too," Obi-Wan defended himself, before becoming calm again. He didn't want to have Luke angry, but this trouble now was his own fault.

Luke now was a little ashamed for himself shouting at Ben. "Sorry...."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, I understand you. I'm sorry for saying these things.... But back to my explanation... The Chosen One is an old prophecy in the Jedi order. One day, a Chosen One would appear, to bring balance of the force. He would come from the lowest style of living, and was fathered by the Force itself. Your father Luke, Leia, is the Chosen One. Only after so many years, do I understand the prophecy now correctly. The old Jedi had become frozen in dogmas and rules, denied that everyone had a dark side and had too many flaws. At the end they only served as instrument of corrupt Republic governments, and were a insult to the Force by becomeing isolated from life itself."

Obi-Wan paused, before continuing. "And the Sith.... they are pure evil, as Palpatine has shown best. When the Jedi were destroyed by the Sith in the purge, the first part of the prophecy was fulfilled. And Palpatine feared, that Anakin would fulfill the second part and destroy the Sith. Because then no pure light or dark would exist anymore. Then new Force-users would have come, but these would have been good, while still accepting their dark emotions without using the dark side. Bringing their emotions into balance and fighting for the good cause, they would be the balance of the Force. So Palpatine imprisoned your father....and holds him to this day."

Silence followed until Leia broke it "What...what happened after that? You stopped with the attack on the temple," she asked her mother.

"I was sticken with grief," Padmè continued. "I nearly died of a broken heart after giving birth to you two while on the run. I was now an enemy of the Empire. So my own death was faked, and we had to decide that you two needed to get seperate ways."

"Why were we seperated in the first place?" Luke finally asked. He wondered how it would have been to grow up with a sister. But his imagination failed, it seemed nothing could replace the real thing.

Leia wondered, too. Why were they even seperated in the first place? "Yes, there has to be a reason for that. It surely wouldn't have been any problem for both of us to stay on Alderaan..."

Padmè sighed. "If it had been only that... Obi-Wan, you explain it to them."

Obi-Wan knew that he had to explain it to them someday, so he prepared himself for a rather long explanation. "You must know, you two were almost like light towers in the Force, after you were born. With your minds not developed, you wouldn't have been able to hide it at all. So we decided to seperate you two for your own safety. I pledged to watch over Luke on Tatooine, where he would grow up far enough away from the Emperor, so that his mind could mature and hide his connection to the Force mostly. Leia, you remained with your mother on Alderaan at the court, since we were able to create a sort of wall encapsuling your mind, hinding away your abilities. We planned that once you turned 18, we would re-unite you, and we would help you in your fight against the tyranny. But things went gravely wrong..."

Leia had a dawning suspiction. "I can already guess what went wrong on my side..."

Padmè sighed. "Sadly, yes. Roxana Organa taking you away from me was not what I and Bail had planned. She blackmailed him with her knowledge about my existence, and we were both helpless..." Padmè didn't want to remember it. It was in the past, and they were finally again together.

"As for why you were told of your background until now..." Obi-Wan continued, looking to Luke. "At the day of your 18th birthday, I planned to reveal it to you, so that you could have accompanied me to Alderaan. But Owen already awaited me, and said he didn't want you to end up like Anakin. Forbidding me to ever again come close to the farm. I guess I never realised how much the death of Anakin's mother had hurt him. Especially since his father died shortly later."

"I've seen the graves. Aunt Beru said, that my grandmother had been a good woman... I wish I would have met her... I actually understand now Uncle Owen's behaviour. He must have been really concerned about me." Luke needed time to make all the connections, but now he understood finally many things that he been strange in his uncle's behaviour.

"But this is the past, and we now have a serious decision to make...." Obi-Wan looked to Leia. "Your mind is now fully developed and able to hide your Force powers. And the wall we created around your powers starts to crumble slowly. Will you accept these powers? Because then I will remove it, and they will return to you in their full strength. I wish I could give you time to consider, but I'm the only one who can remove it, and otherwise it will take years before your powers will slowly return."

Leia looked to her mother for help. That wasn't a decision to make hasty. "You most chose. I can't decide that for you. But I trust you will do the right thing," Padmè offered her.

"Look, I think we need to get used to each other again. So I can't tell you how to live your life." That was Luke's advice to her.

She thought about it, before making a decision. The choice was a difficult one, one that would alter her life forever if she accepted. Nothing then would be the same. Jedi were hunted by Vader. Was it worth these powers? Finally, Leia Skywalker had made a decision. "I do accept the legacy of...Anakin Skywalker. Uncle Bail always told me that he never wanted to replace my father, and that I have to go my own way. I want this powers to help fight against the Emperor. This way I can honor both, my father and my uncle."

Obi-Wan felt relieved. That meant Luke wouldn't stand alone in the hard war that was yet to come. Together, the twins would have a much better chance. "Then please let me remove the wall... Amidala, please hold her tightly, because the procedure will hurt, and I don't want her to injure herself."

Padmè did as told, and Obi-Wan sunk into deep concentration, searching for the wall surrounding Leia's powers. Finally he found it, and with a swifte strike, tore it down. Leia's eyes went wide, when she suddenly felt as if her horizon widened itself significantly from one second to the other. She felt as if her head would explode when the wall was removed. What was natural for Luke, and he not even noticed anymore after growing into it, was a shock to her system. Images of countless things flashed before her eyes, feelings, impressions. It was too much! She trashed around, Padmè having troube to hold her, while Leia bit her teeth together, not wanting to scream. Just when she thought she would die it finally lessened with her mind adapting, and she nearly fell over, exhausted.

Padmè held her daughter, before looking to her son, who looked strangely ill. "Luke...?" She began to get concerned, when he waved off her fear, already starting to recover. Then she turned to Obi-Wan "What happened? Why does my son look so ill?"

Obi-Wan looked a bit guilty "I had forgotten the special twin bond they share, now with both their powers set free. At such close vicinity, he felt some of her pain. The stronger they get in the Force, the more they will feel, and not only pain. Luke, Leia, for the sake of your both privacy, I think after the basics, the leaning of strong mind-shielding will be the first important lesson!"

Both of the twins blushed when realising what Obi-Wan meant. Amidala stopped herself from commenting this, and caressed her daughter's forehead. Leia eyes were half closed. "At least Captain Solo didn't came running to your rescue with a drawn weapon... Darling....how do you feel?"

"Sleepy.....want to sleep...so much." came the weak response.

Luke helped his mother to take his sister to a spare bunk, where she nodded off. Luke excused himself then, because he had to use the refresher to shake off the last aftereffects of the bond. The droids had been deactivated the entire time. It was the perfect opportunity to talk. Carefully they only whispered.

"Amidala, how did you manage to be on that battle station?" Obi-Wan asked her. That was a mystery that was nagging on him.

"He found out and brought me up there," she whispered.

Obi-Wan's face showed his shock when he realised what exactly she meant with that. "By the Force...!"

Amidala had no problem to see that it distressed him. "I'm actually the reason Alderaan wasn't destroyed, since he found me there...He has become tired of his life as Vader. He didn't even say one bad word to me. He planned for Leia and me to escape, when you and my son arrived in this flying piece of garbage."

"He knows about her?" That was the worst possible scenario he could have imagined.

"Yes... but considering the scene in the hangar, he also seems to have realised that Luke is his son," Amdiala answered.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "You know what happened last time, when he almost killed you! Do you know in what big danger you where?"

"I'm not naive! I told him directly that I can't trust him right now, and he did help me to prove he is still worth it. Also I had no other choice, if I wanted to help Leia. Obi-Wan, please don't ask me what he wants to do to escape Palpatine... I can only hope that he will succeed. He sent me away because he feared he could otherwise do something he could regret," Padmè confessed.

Obi-Wan didn't want to press it. "We can...only hope he won't betray your secret."

They stayed silent after this. While Padmè also hoped that Anakin would really try to change and finally break out of the vicious circle of hatred, Obi-Wan tried to hold back that one spark of hope. _He is gone... Anakin won't return. Poor Amidala will be heartbroken again..._

Since it was still hours before they would reach Yavin, they decided to get some sleep as well.

* * *

_...in the Death Star..._

Vader still felt the afterglow of what he had felt, while he retreated into his meditation chamber to do some research. Since it would still be hours before he would be needed, he wanted to look into the files of his children. Now that he knew they existed, he wanted to close his knowledge gap.

Accessing the databank of Alderaan, where the Death Star still circled around, he read Leia's file first.

Most of the official stuff he already knew. Graduated from the palace school two years ago, represented Alderaan in the absence of Bail in the Imperial Senate, one of the youngest senate members...etc. Her medical record showed a good health, but lacked a blood type and a DNA chart, both things that were normally included. He saw why, when he read the family records. She was not only adopted, but that damn wife of Organa had dared to present Leia as their biological child, just hidden for the first five years! Although everyone knew that had ben a load of hooda, Roxana Organa's claim on his child made him angry.

He would kill that bitch personally when he got back on Coruscant, he vowed. The only thing good he could say about her is that she had kept Leia away from boys and the father in Vader was pleased. This was interesting for a concerned father but otherwise useless. He also would have a nice talk with Bail Organa...

Getting Luke's records was a bit harder. His file wasn't in the main archive on Coruscant, so he tried the local archive on Tatooine. Thanks to hyperwave technology, he instantly got the data.

He was pleased to see that he, Anakin, was acknowledged as Luke's father, and that the mother was only marked as _'unknown'. _Seeing his guardians' names reminded him of his argument with Owen, who accused him of screwing up Shmi's rescue, telling him that it caused his father to die of a broken heart. Something he rather wanted to forget. Luke's education was relatively good compared to Tatooine standards, and his piloting skills with a T-16 were superb, he read.

Interestingly, Owen had forced Luke to withdraw his application to the Imperial Academy. Vader was glad about that, otherwise Luke would now fly a TIE-Fighter, and for rookie pilots those things were death-traps in their standard configuration while in the defensive. Minimal shielding was the main culprit for it. And the timing was right with him leaving Tatooine, because the drafting office had already recognized him as pilot, and they had planned to draft him the next week.

_Bizarre that he always had been in the system, and I never noticed him. But then again, there are so many countless quintillions of humans living in the galaxy, one can easily be overlooked..._

Masking his access of the files, he read through the rest of them, trying to find other useful things about his children. After he had read all that information, Vader shut down the system, undressed and hooked himself to the stationary pacemaker system, before climbing into the spartan bed. It would be hours, and he hadn't slept in over a day.

With thoughts about his family, and the hope that nothing would happen to them, he slipped into sleep.

* * *

_...Imperial Palace on Coruscant... _

The Emperor was not in a good mood. In fact, it was quite bad.

The morning had begun as ever, although he felt that there was some sort of tension in the palace. He had filed it away as something that had happened in the galaxy. He would be told of it anyway. So he had proceed as always, and that was, when his mood had worsened considerably in less than a minute.

In his hands was the morning issue of _'Coruscant Today'_. It was the most respected newspaper on the whole planet (not that there were so many to begin with), and they exclusively reported only political and military news as precisely as they could under the imperial news regulations, which only few dared to call threat of censorship in case of misbehaviour. That was why the Emperor was a regular reader. Even as the almighty master of the galaxy, someone should never trust only the reports from underlings. Partly he read it because of real interest, and partly because it was always good for him to know what his subjects were thinking.

Sure, an actually printed newspaper was a real anachronism in the eyes of many people. He also could have simply gotten the online editon, which always was available. But he felt that having it as a real object he would read, that would give it a nice touch.

So he had made it a daily ritual. Every morning, the latest issue was lying on the controls in the side of his throne. He would sit there, reading the newspaper with all time in the galaxy while all these lackeys and so-called dignitaries waited for him to finish, so that they could ask him for favors. These ass-kissers were the worst lot, but he knew that them wooing for his favor was in his advantage.

On good days, that ritual could last for two hours while they didn't dare to say a word. That was his way to show them his disrespect for them while radiating authority.

Today however was different. As soon as he had read the headlines, he had ordered his royal guards to send everyone out of the throne room, and then to lock the doors and guard them. He wanted to be alone, because otherwise somebody important could have been killed in his current bad mood at the news he read.

And the title story was really a hammer.

A big color picture showed the Death Star while circling around Alderaan. And the headlines said: **"All about the surrender of Alderaan, the Crimes of the Alderaanian Government and the new weapon of the Empire!"** The cover page began a report that continued on the second page. The battle station had appeared in the system and after a while had forced the government to a complete surrender. The planet was invaded without even a single death. Reports said that Lord Vader himself ordered the invasion.

The next few pages were more detailed reports, the Emperor mostly skipped them. Basically they said that the general reaction was good, that the Empire had used mercy over destruction, and not even one being had died in the whole operation. That trust in the Empire had been boosted by this action. Most comments were positive.

The next thing was an article about the dealings of the Alderaanian government with the rebels. A public outcry had errupted when all vows of a weapons-free Alderaan had proven to be a lip-service, nothing more. A planetary shield system was pure defensively, and that wasn't the reason as it wasn't a weapon. But the many weapon storages the invading troops had found in their detailled search spoke a different story than what the government said. The anger for being lied to and the following reaction was strong. A picture showed Viceroy Organa on his way into the central prison on Coruscant, flanked by troopers, and an angry mob that threw bottles, vegetables and raw eggs towards the Viceroy.

Palpatine had no difficulties to see that this mob, and propably quite some anger, was staged. Really efficiently staged, but nonetheless staged. He had no trouble to see that in that mob at least half of the people were from the Imperial Youth (former Palpatine Youth) with their characteristic uniforms. But the impact would nonetheless spread.

It was clear that this would get the Rebellion in quite some trouble. A plus point.

The next pages were the opinions of people about the Alderaanian government and the rebels. They were all clear, the people were furious at them. The Emperor skipped them after reading the first few. It was mostly the same since the critical ones obviously weren't printed, and so he reached the second-to-last page.

This article was about the Death Star itself. Another good color picture showed his newest weapon in its full glory. Apart from the facts that were obvious, there were speculations about the visible main weapon and its destructive power. Apart from pointing out that this new weapon showed the power of the Empire, the newspaper reported that a trustworthy source gave the name of the weapon, which was called "Death Star". The last page continued the article with the conclusion that it would try to get more information soon...

The Emperor put away the paper and then sat there to think.

Undoubtly, the pictures and facts came from military personnel, who had sold them for large sums of Imperial Credits to the press. That would be dealt with, there was no use for people like that in his military. More important was that he had to discover why Vader had prevented Tarkin from simply blowing Alderaan apart. It was Vader's motivation that concerned him. Vader never did anything because of selflessness. He had to have a reason to stop the operation, a hidden agenda.

Vader was his perfect slave, ever since the day his wife had died. _Too bad that hadn't been present when it happend. Being subjected to the stupidy of that teenager while she was queen had been disgusting enough,_ Palpatine thought.

Vader had a secret from him, that much he knew, otherwise Alderaan now would be no more, but what and when was still a mystery to him. And he couldn't trust he precognition to see the roads possible. A sort of fog clouded the future beyond a minute, making it impossible for him to determine Vader's most likely moves.

However, he had other means beside the Force to get that information. -_Come to me, my Hand!-_ He commanded in thoughts.

While he waited, he pondered over the results of Vader's actions, as they had aroused his interest. For the last years, he had mostly relied on brute force to simply force the will of the Empire on its subjects. With the Death Star now being the ultimate big stick. But now, seeing how people could be easily swayed, the gears in his tactical and political mind started to turn. He wasn't a professional politican for nothing.

Had he really been so secure in his power, that he had lost sight for the manipulation of the masses, so that they would willingly follow him even into the bloodiest war? He had done so to ensure that the masses were behind him when the Empire was founded. Remembering the reports of the military often stepping over their bounds and the start of unrest, Palpatine felt that he should use the moment to return to his roots.

He would again play the same fiddle he had played during the Clone Wars, when he had created a huge atmosphere of paranoia and nationalism that had put the masses behind him. And now he would use it to slowly turn the masses against the Rebellion. He had listened too much to military who only wanted to use the big stick. But if you offer either the big stick or the sweets, the sweets were almost always taken, even if with a bad conscience.

_The masses can be easily swayed. Just the right means are needed... _he thought. And he already had a new threat in mind that would give him the devotion of the masses for years. An outer enemy ideal for his plans.

He was still plotting, when a hidden door opened, and a red-haired woman with green eyes entered the throne room. She was dressed in black, and knelt before the Emperor. "How can I serve you, my Master?"

"Rise, my Hand!" Palpatine got a good view of her. Mara Jade was his best agent. And she wasn't, at a little over 18 years, even an real adult yet! Her fire-red hair was a contrast to her deep green eyes. Her figure was well toned with muscle, but decidedly feminine. She was deadlier than she looked. And she was all to eager to serve him, to prove her worth to him.

A perfect servant. Palpatine sometimes withed he would be fifty years younger... but not that this would stop him. However, Mara was more effective the way she was right now.

"You will go to Alderaan. There you will search for information as to why Lord Vader prevented the destruction of the planet. When you are finished there, go to the Death Star and search for additional information," he ordered her.

"As you wish, my Master!" she acknowledged eagerly.

Palpatine felt suppressed envy towards Vader in Jade. She still thought that she could replace Vader in due time but he had made it clear that Vader was irreplaceable, at least for now. He then dismissed Jade. He would have much work before himself, and the people before the main door to the throne room had to be sent away. He was in no mood to deal with this lot today.

Mara Jade shuddered while leaving the throne room though a secret passage. Normally she was cool and collected around her master, and even enjoyed his presence. But when he was in a bad mood, it was a different matter. Then it felt as if she had bathed in ice water, it was very unpleasant.

_Vader must have really angered him. Finally a good chance to show that this walking oxygen tank isn't all that great. _But she knew that she had to be careful. Vader wasn't above killing the Emperor's Hands, should they try to muscle into his turf. Vader knew that it annoyed his master, but the few Hands who did so, were at fault for it.

She thought about what she would need to pack for the mission. She was glad to get out of the palace. Being forced to use the disguise of a courtesan wasn't easy. The real ones ridiculed her, she was embarrassed over her far too revealing outfits, and she felt somewhat stupid since she actually at least in the intimate regard was a pure flower. Not that she wanted to experience that anytime soon. The disguise worked, and that was most important, despite her hating it.

She was sent on a simple information-gathering mission. No assasination or something like that, meaning that it would be relaxingly easy compared to her normal line of work.

* * *

_...in the Yavin system..._

"Confirmed, Millenium Falcon, security code accepted. Welcome back, Princess Leia!" Then the comm went silent.

After hours in the vastness of hyperspace, they had finally reached the Yavin system, only to be ordered to state the correct security code as soon as they had returned to real-space. Thankfully Leia still remembered it, and without any further problems they landed in front of the massive hangar gate that led into the insides of an huge, old temple deep in the jungles of Yavin IV.

From there, repulsorcarts brought them to the entrance to command centre deep within the massive structure. They were passing through hangars with hundreds of starfighters, and a big number a transport ships. All around them the crew was busy, being set on higher alert status.

Finally they reached their destination. General Jan Dodonna already waited there for them.

"Thank the Force! We thought you were taken to Coruscant as a prisoner!" he greeted Leia. Then he noticed the others with her. The Wookie and the man in the pilot's uniform of a freighter captain were strangers, as was the blonde young man. But the man in the Jedi robe was a different matter for one who had fought in the Clone Wars. Padmè was not in his line of sight at the moment.

"General Kenobi! It is so good, to see you here. So the Princess had found you in the end...or maybe you found her," he greeted Obi-Wan. He at first had some problems to recognise him, since the last pictures of him were almost 20 years old.

"Yes....it was a bit of struggle, but all went well in the end. And I will try to put by experience to best use for the Rebellion." He turned to the strangers. "These are Captain Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca. They need to get paid a substantial sum we promised them for their troubles, or it will be a life or death matter for him."

"That will be no problem!" Dodonna said, then turned to Han. They had several dealings were money was important, so it wasn't unusual for him to hear that. "Captain Solo, we can't simply electronically transfer it, and cash could also be traced by the Imperial Central Bank. Can you accept precious metals as a substitute?"

"Of course! Jabba isn't picky when it's about payment. Precious metals work for me." Han wasted no more words. There was his chance to get again in Jabba's good graces. No chance he would waste it by doing something stupid.

Obi-Wan then continued "This is one of my two padawan learners, Luke Skywalker." Obi-Wan pointed towards Luke, who was uncomfortable at such attention from others.

"Are you related to Anakin Skywalker?" Dodonna asked, mustering the young man before him, noticing the lightsaber attached to his belt. He had seen several Jedi in his life, so he recognised it at once.

"Yes, he is my father. He is held prisoner by the Emperor, and I will free him as soon as I'm skilled enough to do so," Luke answered. The fact that his father was still alive was still awkwand, but he now knew what he wanted to do.

The confirmation still surprised Dodonna. Also that Skywalker was still alive, he had thought him to be killed by the Emperor, since he was a Jedi. "I never knew he had children. All records of him apruptly stop at the end of the Clone Wars."

"That's because I wanted to keep them safe from the Empire. Even if it also meant to fake my own death in the process."

Jan Dodonna only now noticed the woman in the group, who had walked to the front after making this declaration. He looked at her, and at first he didn't recognise her. But going deeper into his memory, he remembered her. She had been an important political figure in her time, and, from everything he knew, had attended the first meetings of the group that would give birth to the idea of resistance. But she was supposed to be dead, her furneal being major news so shortly after the war.

Amidala saw his surprise. "Trust me, there is much we have to talk about. It is finally time for me to become active again after all these years."

Dodonna nodded. It wasn't often that people seemingly did rise from the dead. Finally gathering himself, he told them to follow him to the central conference room of the base, where they could get the whole story from them. They would have enough time while R2 would be brought to the computer centre, where the Death Star plans would be extracted and analysed.

It seemed that everything was going well for the Rebellion.

* * *

_....Coruscant spaceport 1138... _

Finally, Mara Jade was able to lift-off and head to Alderaan. Spaceport control had cost her enough time and aggravation, bringing her close to doing something stupid. Two damn hours had it cost her, and only her discipline prevented her from killing the idiotic woman who had held her up so long. Buerocratic idiots were the worst scum in her opinion.

_Red tape is everywhere... It's embarrassing that I have to deal with such shit..._ she silently grumbled, finding the whole issue unfair.

Now with the clearance finally given, she wasted no time. Igniting the engines, she took of as fast as possible, to make up for some of the time she had lost. She really hoped that the start of the mission wasn't a bad omen. She disliked having to do things the hard way.

As soon as she was in hyperspace she laid down for some sleep. She needed to think clearly, when she would start to snoop around on Alderaan. It would be two hours to Alderaan, and there was nothing else to do.

Being an Emperor's Hand didn't mean she couldn't be lazy when the situation allowed this luxury to her.

* * *

_...half a hour later on Yavin IV... _

"Absolutely unbelievable....." Dodonna and the other representatives had heard the whole story with all background knowledge. Amidala was an important person in history and had been dead to the galaxy. So the surprise was even greater when the rest of the story was laid open. A lot was written down. They already saw that it was very important.

They really needed leader personalities well versed in politics, so Amidala's offer for help was gladly accepted. Also the prospect of General Kenobi and two possible Jedi strengthening their ranks was a good one. But the most important was that Anakin Skywalker was still alive. They knew, should they manage to free him, they would get someone very important for their cause.

The room was a frenzy of activity, only Luke seemed a bit distracted and Padmè noticed it when seeing his distant look, as if something was on his mind.

"Luke, what rules your thoughts and gives you have that far-away look?" she gently asked her son, while turning to him.

"I don't really know, it is a strange feeling, mother." Luke sounded a bit unsure about it. "I feel as if something tells me the battlestation followed us to here. I can't explain it, maybe it is the Force. I should ask Ben." He started to get up to talk with him, when a technician ran into the room, totally out of breath.

"Captain Solo! There was a homing beacon attached to your ship! The Empire now knows where we are!" he reported.

Silence followed this horrible news.

Luke now knew why the feeling was there, the Empire had tricked them big time. However, before anyone could get out a word, a second technician stormed into the room. This one was even whiter in the face than the last one, and even more in a panic. She was so exhausted from her run that only after half a minute of heavy breathing could she speak.

"Sir....something happened to the data. The memory of the R2 is still intact. But the plans..... useless! There was a program-trap in the plan we had been unable to detect... It activated as soon as the data had transfered to our computer, propably the activation switch."

"What happened to the plans?" Dodonna demanded to know, although he already knew what the answer would be.

"They, they were completely wiped, with no way for us to recover them..."

Everyone present knew, what that meant. The Death Star was on its way to them, the plans were useless and they had no way to go against this monstrosity now.

* * *

_...Alderaan..._

When Mara left hyperspace, the Death Star was nowhere in sight. It had already departed the system. So landing on the central spaceport of the capitol Alderra, she accessed the military computers with her priority code from the Emperor to search for where to go next. The air-control data finally brought a result. Vader had personally flown a shuttle down into the capitol, landing in the back of a housing block. But why, only the force knew.

Mara knew, that it wasn't much, but exactly what she would have to investigate to find out Vader's motives behind stopping the destruction of the planet. It also meant she would have to go there to look for further trances. And that meant blending in for some time.

Locking her ship, she used public transportation to get to that part of the city. There, she would hopefully find more parts to this puzzle._ Vader did something, that much is clear. He searched for something here. Maybe this is what I need to finally prove myself as Vader's equal, so my master will teach me more of these powers! _

Mara was able to control some of these mysterious powers her master and Vader had. It was what set her apart from the other Hands, who, depite being really good in their job, hadn't these powers. She had found a liking to them, but found herself unable to experiment successfully to unlock more of them. Meaning she had to impress her master so that he would show her how to access new uses for this power.

Finally the airbus arrived at the right station, and she went a short way to investigate. Apart from the occasional soldier at the street corner, all was mostly back to normal, as if nothing had happened. It was almost spooky how fast people could accept new circumstances. Finally she reached the garden of the housing block where Vader had landed. It was not hard to find the exact landing place, because the grass was totally ruined where the shuttle had landed. But that wasn't that helpful for her investigation.

Questioning the neighbors with one of the powers her master had taught her, and then making them forget, brought some results. One gardener had seen Vader entering the house, and he had left minutes later, carrying a woman in his arms who lived in apartment number six on floor 3. Vader then had left, possibly to return to the Death Star

Visiting the apartment itself was mostly unproductive.

All the important data in the terminals had been erased, and the medium-sized suitcase on the bed had only few, standard everyday clothes for a female. Otherwise, the room was a dead end with nothing out of the ordinary.

_Hmmm. Whoever deleted the data must have used the keyboard... _she realised.

Taking fingerprints from the keys of the computer with a special tool, she smiled when she saw that her guess was right. There were fingerprints of one person on the keys. Since Vader always wore gloves, it had to be this mysterious woman. Saving the fingerprint, she left to return to her ship. With her special code, she would have no problem in getting out the location of the Death Star. And the fingerprint would be analyzed to find out the identity of this mysterious woman.

"Let's see who is smarter, Vader!" she grinned evilly, when she finally entered her ship. Should she get out what game Vader was playing, he would lose quite some reputation with her master. Something she really wanted to happen.

* * *

_...on the Death Star..._

"No..."

Vader had woken up after what he had seen. He knew from his experience, that it had been a vision from the Force itself, concerning the future, or what the future could be. His precognition had become strangely clouded in the last hours before he had went to sleep. But in his sleep, the fog had suddenly cleared, and he had went on a tour through what could become the future, that was simply horrific.

He had seen horrible wars plunging the galaxy into disorder, corruption and a government that had become totally impotent. He had seen someone destroying a whole star system and not being brought to justice for this holocaust. He had seen planets turned to wastelands by horrible infighting, wrecks of huge starfleets. Then it was as if a huge hand reached out to crush the galaxy. He saw beings that ruined their own bodies in a perverse religion. He saw Coruscant turned into a green hell by their hands, its moons destroyed. He saw a galaxy in flames and huge skull-pyramides, the skulls of the thousands of billions innocents slaughtered by these monsters, their blood forming a huge ocean.

And once that was over, he saw more distubing pictures. Pictures that hit even closer home. He saw a young man he somehow knew of that would be his grandson, turn to evil and continue the line of the Sith. He saw the desperation of his son, and him grieving at the grave of his wife, victim to the new Sith. He saw another grandson dying at the hands of the monsters. He saw a granddaughter being in company that no parent would want her to. He saw his daughter shattered by the loss of two of her children. The Skywalker family had fallen apart.

And Anakin found it most frightening that neither he or Padmè had been in any of this visions.

Vader knew, the Force had told him under no terms with this, that he couldn't simply run away with his wife once he was healed, hiding somewhere. Even though most of the pictures didn't make sense in a bigger context, the message was clear: he had to take over responsibility. Not to take the easy way out by running away. It would mean otherwise disaster.

He knew that visions could be dangerous if interpreted wrong, what happened to him being the worst example. But this time was different. He wouldn't naively run into it. He had learned the patience to formulate an exact plan. Once this crisis was over, he would have to start plotting.

**-beeeep-**

Vader noticed the intercom signaling an important message. "Yes?"

_"We are approaching the planet Yavin. The rebel base is on a moon on the far side. We prepare for orbiting around the planet."_

"Excellent, I'm on my way." Vader wanted to be on the overbridge personally, in case something hapened that needed his intervention.

* * *

_...on Yavin IV..._

At the first glance, it was a total chaos, but the evacuation of the base was well-organized. All of it could be dismantled and transported away, leaving only the empty shell of the base behind. The transport ships were constantly busy. They wanted to be finished before the Death Star would arrive in the system. They had little other choice, with every possibility of an counter-attack gone with the loss of the plans.

All personnel not necessary for the evacuation were already shipped off, the important equipment was next. All the starfighters had already left the base, already en route to the main fleet, where they would be of better use. It was a literal race against the clock, and right now it looked as if they could win it.

The hours had gone by fast and without mercy. And then as an harbinger of doom, an alert signal was heard.

"Alert! Alert! The Death Star has entered the system_!"_

* * *

__

...in the Death Star...

Tarkin was on the overbridge, when the Death Star began to circle around Yavin to reach to moon. Vader was already there, as if he had known it minutes before him. The schematics on the main screen showed the planet and its moons, calculating the best course for the huge battle station around the huge gas giant.

_"We__ are circling around the planet with maximum velocity. The moon with the rebel base will be in position to be destroyed in 60 minutes!" _

Vader's silence, apart from his mechanical breathing, unnerved Tarkin. Maybe, Vader was still angry that his old master had escaped? But it wouldn't matter. Soon, the base would be destroyed, and the Rebellion no more than a memory to the galaxy; a short lived memory. He could not have known that the Rebels were already pulling out, because their sensor efficiency was reduced because of the extremely powerful magnetic fields emitted from the gas giant Yavin.

o

The hour seemed to get by really fast, if an artifcial apocalypse was near. On Yavin IV, almost everyone was away now, while Han Solo hoped that his fast repair on the Falcon would hold and get them out of there. Why now of all time did that system decide to give up the ghost?

_**"The Death Star will be in position to fire in 1 minute!" **_**  
**  
Han Solo had finally put the circuit for the hyperdrive back together. He could only hope that it would work. He thought about the money in his cargo load. It was much more than he needed, so there was a nice bonus for him. Now he only had to get off this doomed moon as fast as he could, the last transports were already taking off. He had no desire to end up atomised by the battle station.

His first stop would be Tatooine and then the Rebel fleet. Because the Empire would treat him like a Rebel now, the choice to join them, if only for safety, was not very hard. Not that it improved his opinion of them, after what happened in the past. Also, the princess continued to catch his interest. She was nicer, after being reunited with her brother and mother. Han could only speculate how it felt, because he had never had a family himself. But anyway he would be stupid to let someone like her out of his sight.

_How would Lando have put it? A lady to die for? Yep, that's it, _he thought, while firing up the systems of the Falcon.

The request he got was surprising, but then he accepted at once. His human passengers who would ride with him for a second time, had even accepted the stop on Tatooine, because they had no space for people left on their transports. At least he had not to endure the droids for a second time, because they were already shipped off. The translator droid had especially unnerved him and he would have loved to shoot him to pieces.

With his passengers on board, he was ready to blast off as fast as possible to get away. "Ok, Chewie! Let's hope the repair will hold! Let's get out of here!"

o

However, the escape of the Rebels no longer went unnoticed, with the Death Star close enough by now to get better scanner readings.

"SIR! Our scanners register fleeing Rebel transports! They seem to be evacuating!" The crewman at the sensor station shouted to Tarkin, now that their sensors could finally burn through all the interference in the area around Yavin.

"They can't do that!" Tarkin's anger came back. His victory was slipping through his fingers, leaving him with nothing to report back. "When are we in firing position!?" _At least I want to destroy some of them! _

"30 seconds!"

Tarkin heard that and the seconds seemed to be long, until finally, the Death Star had reached its end position. "Fire at once!" Tarkin cried in hatred.

The enormous hypermatter reactor deep inside the station at once set free energies that were never heard of in the history of galaxy before. An energy burst as much as the output of many, many stars. Eight green beams shot out of the main weapon, all focusing on one point. Suddenly, a thick, green beam emerged from that point, shattering the moon Yavin IV in an instant in a huge explosion!

But the last starship, a Corellian freighter, jumped to hyperspace at the last second, before the debris could smash it to pieces.

_**to be continued...**_


	5. The Plot thickens

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

* * *

**Chapter IV- The Plot thickens....**

"There was no one on that moon when you destroyed it, Tarkin. Seems, that you will have to report that to the Emperor. It was only a waste of hypermatter," Vader gloated, seeing this effectiveless display of destruction on the screen.

Tarkin said nothing. He was way too angry over this humiliation than to react to Vader's barbs.

Vader then left the overbridge. _Let's see how much damage that will do to your career, little man... _He felt a deep statisfaction that Tarkin got what he deserved, while at the same time glad that his family had escaped the doomed moon. With them safe for the moment, he could relax a little to finally turn his mind to other things.

With his business practically done on the Death Star, he would call the Devastator to pick him up in his fighter very soon, for his return to Coruscant. He would have much work to do and he was sure, the Emperor wanted to question him in person about the whole affair as soon as possible. Something he didn't look forward to because it meant he had to prepare a strategy to answer his questions without outright lying, as his master could sense an outhright lie.

Walking down the corridor, he thought about something he had felt.

He hadn't been exactly truthful with Tarkin, one sentient presence actually had been on the planet, but it had felt different from a living being. Also it had been diffuse, as if there and yet not there. It had shouted in the Force, that it was indestructible, but then the explosion of the moon had silenced it forever. Vader could only speculate what it was. It was dark, but now gone.

He no longer wanted to think about it. It was gone now and would never trouble him again. He had more important things on his agenda. First erase his tracks further than he had already done, just to be sure, then he wanted to think ahead of how to counter the events in his vision. He knew from experience (a painful one at that) that without careful thinking, he would only fulfill a vision's content.

Meanwhile Tarkin was furious over what had happened.

That was the second time his infernal machine was unable to make an example. The destruction of an empty moon was nothing for which someone would get a medal. Worse, he had to report that failure to the Emperor personally. Tarkin hoped for the best, when he entered the holopad for direct hyperwave communication to Coruscant.

Hopefully his up to now spotless record would save him from the anger of the galactic ruler.

* * *

_...in Hyperspace, a little later...  
_  
While in hyperspace, Mara received a message from her master. Tarkin, the idiot, had been foolish enough to let the Rebels escape, only destroying an empty moon. But since Tarkin was a useful fool, the Emperor had not killed him. Instead, he had released a press statement, voicing his strong disappointment at such incompetence. Or to say it another way: he had chewed him out in public.

_My master surely knows how to make an example without wasting resources, _she thought in amusement.

Tarkin's reputation had recieved quite a blow with this, and he would have no choice but to follow all orders to the last letter to get again into the Emperor's good graces. And doing this was hard work, even if you were the commander of the biggest space ship ever built in the galaxy's history.

She herself disliked these military high-ups mostly. A lot of them were jerks and a number of them had looked at her as if she was a piece of meat. Better, she had seen with her power in their minds what they imagined doing with her, some of it having made her really sick (even she had her limits).

Right then the computer announced that the fingerprint had been matched. Padmè Amidala Naberrie, who according to the files was long dead, was her target person. She knew that a death could be faked, so she now had her lead. This woman was somehow important to Vader. But she had no idea what Vader would want with a former sentator who had become unimportant for 18 years now, but she was there to find out.

"Quite interesting..." The mystery was getting interesting and Mara was intruiged what this could mean.

* * *

_...Dagobah... _

Meditation was always easy for master Yoda, but today it was impossible, because the flow of the Force was changing again, and it was extremely counterproductive to his meditation. Finally he gave up, taking a walk through the swamp to get his mind on other things.

He was still deeply concerned about the upheaval in the Force that had clouded the future beyond a minute. Something like that had never been recorded ever in the archives of the temple, and that meant something considering that the archives covered tens of thousands of years. He still had trouble to find out the exact nature of the cause, only that it felt like things weren't as they should be.

But there were other concerns as well.

The 18 years had been over, but the Skywalker children hadn't arrived to prove their worthiness to harness the powers of the Force, as he and Obi-Wan had agreed on. It meant that something had went wrong. Since he couldn't risk to initiate outside communication -he surely would be discovered- he had no choice but to wait.

"Very, very disturbing all this is..." Yoda muttered to himself, while taking a walk to the now familiar swamp that had become his home.

"I can only agree with you, master Yoda."

Yoda stopped and looked up. He hadn't heared his voice for a long time now, so that came as a small surprise. "Qui-Gon Jinn. Surprise this is. Thought went on you did. Why decide to return you did?"

"The flow of the Force is changing. The future has come into permanent motion, far stronger than anyone had ever seen. There is must unrest on the other side about this. I decided to return since I felt that the prophecy has started to fulfill itself," the voice of the dead Jedi master explained.

Yoda looked sceptical. "Hmmm, very careful we have to be not to repeat the errors of the past. Why do you not appear before me?"

"I still have have to gather my strength to be able to appear. It will take me time. I will return, once I'm stronger. Farewell for now, master..." The voice faded away.

Yoda returned to his walk through the swamp. Qui-Gon's visit had only brought up more questions. He knew he would need more immension in the Force to find out the exact nature of the events that had started to shift the future. They had misunderstood the prophecy once, and it had cost them dearly. They wouldn't do this error again.

* * *

_...in the Death Star..._

_Well, the pictures didn't do it justice... _Mara thought, while approaching the Death Star, which was still orbiting Yavin. There wasn't much that could impress her, but this thing surely did, with its 160 kilometers diameter. It surely was a very good expression of the Empire's power and might.

Using her priority codes to get a landing clearance, she turned on the auto-landing sequence, before walking to her locker in the back of the ship to put on her disguise, namely the uniform of an officer.

It was a common misunderstanding that there were no woman in the imperial forces. The Empire didn't discriminate anyone who wanted to fight for them. Of course it depended on the sector, with some parts of the galaxy really sexist and xenophobic. Aliens were rather rare, but woman were quite common in the forces, but mostly out of the public's eye. The ministery of propaganda had decided that stong, determined men were better for the public face of the Army and Navy. Mara found it quite chauvinistic but it simply was like this.

"Urgh, I hate this thing!" she cursed, while putting her hair into a hairnet, like all females in the forces with longer hair were ordered to do. Putting on her cap she checked herself in the mirror. She now looked like an unremarkeble officer of higher rank. Mara would not be seen as something special in any way. The only one to avoid was Vader, because he knew who she was.

It was time to get some answers.

Half an hour later however, Mara was near cursing. All important security data was erased, and the stormtroopers were only able to give her vague reports of what had happened. The only things she could puzzle together were the actions of a Jedi Knight Kenobi, the escape of the princess with the help of others, and that somehow Vader was not able to strike the knight down.

She could already guess who had erased the data and memories which might have been useful for her. Vader had done a frighteningly good work to cover his tracks. Nothing with substance was left to report to her master. It made her angry to no end that Vader mocked her like this.

_He can't think of everything, even he is human. Either he is literally half a machine, or he really knows what he is doing... _she thought darkly, while returning to her ship.

She was so angry that she went around a corner and bumped full force into Vader, who was on his way to the hangar. She was thrown to the ground, while Vader didn't even move a bit, standing before her like a solid pillar. "Hey! Can't you.... oh great!" Her annoyance was nearly palpable. Why did she have to bump into Vader now of all times? Vader always treated her like a little girl not important enough for his time, something that annoyed her to no end and had soured her opinion about the man considerably.

"Mara Jade...." The tone made clear that he thought of her still as a nuisance at best. "So the Emperor had sent his little hand for a snooping job? As a word of warning, don't get in my way or your beauty will be disappear forever at my hand."

Mara looked insulted to him, not taking the threat very serious. "You dare to threaten one of the direct servants of the Emperor?" she accused, trying to sound as threatening as possible, which was really a feat with voice that was rather cute.

"I threaten who I deem is needed to be threatened, girl. But I have wasted enough of my precious time with you as I have more important matters on my hands." Then Vader left for the hangar without a second glance to her.

Mara seethed with anger. He had made fun of her, again! He had treated her like she was a fly on the windshield of a speeder. That was the reason why she had such an immanse dislike of Vader, who thought that he was something bettan than everyone else beside the Emperor. It enraged her to no end to be treated like this.

Walking to her ship angrily, she knew had a lead remaining that she had to investigate. She would prove that she was very capable of solving this riddle. Some digging would give her all details, but it already was enough to reach her next destination, Tatooine.

Her red hair spilled out like the rays of a sun when she removed the hairnet as soon as she was on board. Punching in the coordinates for her nex destination while waiting for the clearance to lift off, she felt like hitting something. Finally she was cleared and ready for take-off.

_Just wait Vader! For that you will bleed! My master doesn't like people like you! _She thought in anger while starting the engines.

Vader meanwhile was deep in thought, while initiating the docking sequence for his TIE X1, that would allow the Devastator to pull the starfighter into the hangar of the big Star Destroyer.

He never showed it, but he thought that Jade had potential. Her Force powers were totally under-trained. He knew exactly, why. The Emperor didn't want her to become too powerful, or she could become dangerous to him. It was a reasoning that Vader fully understood. Jade had the potential for becoming a strong Force-user.

In the Old Republic, she would be one her way to knighthood now. He however treated her like he did because he knew of her connection to Palpatine. Acting so dismissive of her made sure that Jade would try to avoid him, so that there wasn't another Force-user near him. Having her far away ensured no hidden espionage by his master.

_Too bad that I did not have the privilege to train her. Together we could have been strong. But who cares, I probably won't see her again when I will leave all this behind me, _he thought.

She propably didn't know that he knew most about her. Know your possible enemies. After killing several Hands who had thought that going against him would give them a carreer boost, he knew that knowledge about them would be useful. He knew a lot about her, down to that she had a weakness for caramel sweets. Only from where she actually came from, that was a mystery to him. But he wasn't in a hurry to find out.

But that she was sent by Palpatine to spy out his actions during the Alderaan crisis, meant something. Palpatine was obviously mistrustful towards his motives. He had to be more careful than he had thought at first. Hearing the docking clamps snap into place, Vader prepared to leave his fighter once the docking was complete.

They would return to Coruscant very soon.

* * *

_...Tatooine orbit, some time later..._

"I will land in Mos Espa, since Mos Eisley is too dangerous now," Han told Padmè while preparing for the descent into the atmosphere. "Dealing with Jabba will take some time and it would be better if I and Chewie do this alone as Jabba doesn't react well to unannouced visitors. Why don't you see the city, while I take care of business?"

Han's tone made it clear that he wanted to deal with Jabba alone, with only Chewie as his companion, since he knew that things could turn ugly with one wrong gesture. He didn't want anyone else getting caught in the possible cross-fire.

"No problem, Captain Solo. In fact, this place has some history concerning the family that I want to show my children," Padmè replied, while at the same time listening to the hum of lightsabers in the background and the occasional yelps of pain from her children.

_Looks like the remotes got them yet again. Good that it will only itch a while, nothing serious. But who said that learning the Force was easy? Anakin needed ten years, but the children seem to absorb everything Obi-Wan tells them like a sponge. I wonder, how long it will take until they can defend themselves as Jedi, _she thought.

The Falcon approached Mos Espa in no time and landed in a free docking bay without many problems and Padmè went to the back to tell the others to accompany her through the city. There was much to show them. Han, on the other hand, used his comlink to make contact with one of Jabba's underlings who he would tell to announce to Jabba that it was time for the deal. He would pay the Hutt now, and he would keep his head on his shoulders.

One hour later, the Skywalkers and Obi-Wan were still walking through the busy space port of Mos Espa. The place had awakened memories in Padmè. Memories of happier times and of finding a little boy who had great plans for the future. It was like walking on the memory lane.

"Come, after showing you the former slave quarters, the junk shop where I met your father for the first time is one last and important thing you should see!" Amidala called Luke and Leia, while Obi-Wan was always looking if trouble was on the way. Padmè wondered if Watto was still owner of it, as he hadn't looked as if in his prime when she had last seen him many years ago.

Finally they arrived at the shop. From the outside, it looked the same, with the huge junk yard in the back of the house. But it became clear that the shop must have changed hands when she saw a fat Zabrak behind the counter as soon as they had went in. Otherwise the shop was still mostly the same.

"Yep, how can I help you, mam'?" the Zabrak asked as politely as he could, seeing a possible customer, judging by their clean clothes.

"Are you the owner of the shop? I remember a Toydarian named Watto running this shop," she asked as casually as possible. The Zabrak was truly not a nice sight, looking like a real slob who propably drank too much beer while hanging out in front of the holo-screen. The shop however was tidier then she remembered, and many of the parts looked in better condition than the junk Watto had sold.

The Zabrak laughed, which caused his fat body to trmble slightly. "He was. He had retired some years ago and sold the shop to me. Hehe...that was a really good deal for me, as if he was desperate to sell it after a bad business decision! Are you interested in one of my things? We have a much bigger assortment than before!"

Only then Padmè noticed that Obi-Wan had already picked up several things, and put them on the counter. The Zabrak was all business, and typed some things into the cash register. "That will be 56,80 imperial credits, please!" Padmè gave him her credit chip, and he transferred the sum before giving it back. "Thanks for buying at Ultie's!"

"What are these parts?" Luke asked Obi-Wan after they had left the shop while Obi-Wan put the parts into his pocket.

"Leia needs to build her own lightsaber. Using mine for practice won't work long. These parts are all what I still needed, the rest can be built from spare parts we can get from Captain Solo. I still have a already treated focus crystal in my possession that can be used for it. But now come! It is noon and I bet you are hungry. Let's eat something before going back to the ship. By then, our Captain should be finished," Obi-Wan explained to them.

Leia only groaned "I'm a politician not a technician! I don't even have a clue what the difference between voltage and ampere is! Must I really build it myself?"

But Obi-Wan seemed to already have thought about this. "I will help you. Even in the old order, there were the ones with no technical knowledge. Then it was allowable to bend the rules, otherwise it would be really unfair. But now come, I see a nice bistro over there."

They hadn't noticed the man in the shadows who had watched them since they had left the shop. His eyes looked angry to Luke and especially the old Jedi.

The human with the deformed face swore in anger while he hid deeper in the shadows. He had seen the old man and that boy as soon as they had left the shop. He would never forget these faces. His friend was dead because of these two. He remembered it clearly; it had happened some days ago in a Mos Eisley cantina when they had tried to enjoy a drink.

_"He doesn't like you."_

_  
"Sorry."_

_  
"I don't like you either! Watch out, we are dangerous criminals! I'm sentenced to death in 12 star systems!"_

_  
"I will be careful."_

_  
"Dead you will be!"  
_  
It had ended with the old man killing his friend with a freakish weapon, and him running away in fear. And now they had shown their faces again. Revenge was the only thing going through his mind. He wasn't sentenced to death in twleve star systems for nothing. But he wouldn't make the same mistake again. This time, they would use a foolproof way to deal with them, where their light sword wouldn't help either. He picked up from his pocket a communication device and activated it.

"Hakez! Come to the docking bays at once and bring 'the weapon' with you! I found the damn mynocks who were responsible for Je'tors death! Now we can give them payback they can't deflect with a lightsaber!"

* * *

_...at the docking bay... _

Having unloaded most of the boxes, Han waited until Jabba would arrive with his goons, Chewie holding guard in the background.

Han hoped that Jabba would now be faithful to the deal they made in Mos Eisley. Jabba might have a good opinion of his right now, but who knew if Jabba could change his mind, now that he had his money. It was always good to be careful when dealing with a mobster. Hearing the arrival of a speeder, Han knew that it was showtime.

First some hitmen secured the bay, before Jabba came in in his whole, fat glory. At the sight of the boxes, his eyes shone with greed in anticipation of the valuables they could contain. _#Han, Han, Han..... So you have decided, finally to pay me for the loss of my cargo?#_ The fat Hutt moved his massive body towards the smuggler while saying this.

"Yes Jabba, you can see in the boxes for yourself. Precious metal, each box worthy 1000 imperial credits." It was needless to say that because Jabba had already grabbed one box and inspected it's contents, looking quite pleased when seeing that the content was genuine. "There will be even a bigger bonus than the fifteen percent we have agreed on for you."

_And still some good money left for me_, Han added quietly, thinking of the rest of the boxes still in the cargo hold. It was quite a sum he could save for tight times.

_#Han, my boy. You know, how to make a old Hutt like me happy!#_ Jabba turned to his goons. _#Don't stay there like idiots! Bring my money into the speeder and secure it!#_ While his goons started to take the boxes with the metal away, Jabba again turned to Han _#Sorry for the...bounty on your head. Can I expect to rely on your services again in the future?#_

Han was relieved, Jabba stood to his word and let him go. "I'm afraid not. I want to leave this part of this galaxy and smuggle in a different one. The grounds have become too hot, you understand. But maybe one day I will remember your offer. Until then..."

Jabba looked a little disappointed, but then again, he also was a businessman. _#Too bad. So let us part in peace and this concludes our business.#_

After a last handshake, the big Hutt moved out of the docking bay, pleased that he was paid.

* * *

_...Tatooine orbit... _

Mara left hyperspace, looking at the desolate world that Tatooine was. It wasn't by far the worst world she had visited in her life, some were much worse like the dirty mudhole two months ago, but it still already looked worse enough. Pretty much a backwater shithole. But that wasn't important for now, she had tasks on her hand.

After going into an orbit around the planet and then broke into the databank of the spaceports, she looked for the ship in question. It was a hit; the Falcon was in Mos Espa. At once she selected a docking bay in the neighborhood and contacted the spaceport control to get clearance to land. Now she would solve that mystery around that ship.

Police records had indicated that the ship would return here, and they were right. It was this ship, on which she knew she would find answers to the question why Vader had acted again his usual behaviour on the Death Star. And she would be prepared to deal with the smuggler who owned the ship, and whose file made it clear he can be very dangerous.

Thinking about how to best present her findings to the Emperor when she was done, her ship descended into the atmosphere to home in on the Mos Espa spaceport.

Half an hour later, Mara wondered how long she would have to wait for her target. Right now she know only one thing: she was bored.

She watched the self-important pilot now for some time, but he did nothing other than fix up fractures in the ship's hull, while the Wookie she had heard rumors of was inside the ship_. _And the ship itself looked like a sure way to find a shortcut to afterlife. Not even an whole army could force her to use this ship, she wasn't suicidal after all.

_I will die of old age before something will happen... _she thought while yawing loud. With all the noise around them, this wouldn't be heared. Even though she was tough as nails and totally loyal to her master, she too was only human. And with that came all those human things like getting bored.__

Then finally something happened.

A middle-aged woman followed by an old, robed man, and a young man and woman entered the docking bay. She recognized Leia Organa of Alderaan, a traitor to the Empire, and the descriptions she had fit perfectly with the middle-age woman, who she suspected to be Padmè Amidala Naberrie. The pictures she had of her were nearly 20 years old, but she was still recognizable. They talked to the pilot, but sadly, she was too far away to understand a word with all the noise around them.

_Too bad that I can't hear them, _Mara thought in disappointment. Should the birds try to leave, she would strike and stun at least Naberrie, as she was the key to solving this whole riddle.

_-Hurry!-_

Mara nearly jumped. What was that? The voice came from nowhere, it was in her own head, and it wasn't her master, because it was female! Wondering if something had been wrong with her ears, she tried to ignore it and return to the task at hand.

_-Danger is coming! You must help them!-_

This time, the voice was male, but not her master. What was going on, who were these voices she never had heard before? Why should she even help them? They were targets, not friends! And they were Rebels, traitors! _-Why should I? Leave me alone whoever you are!-_

_-No! Quick! Before it is too late!-_

_-I have to do nothing- _She then tried to shut out the voices. _-Just shut up! SHUT UP!- _It didn't help, only made it worse.

_-You MUST! Do it now, now, NOW!-_

Both voices together were nearly deafening and she felt like her head was about to burst, causing her a strong headarche. _The only way that they will leave me in peace is to help them? I want no one except for my master in my head, so if they want that I'll do it. Even if it is just to get rid of these damn voices!_

Mara jumped out of her hiding into the corridor that connected the docking bay with the street, facing the group. She would play someone who had just come here by coincidence and would act unknowing of their identities. But before she could say even a word, horrible pain shot up her back and then she felt extreme heat hitting her in her lower back, setting her clothing on fire and burning her skin.

She was silent in shock for a split-second, before a high-pitched shriek like thst of a Banshee left her throat, making every ounce of her pain auidable to everyone. Screaming, she fell face forward on the floor, the sheer pain paralysing every of her muscles.

She started to black out. She felt her clothes burning, the pain, when the fire reached her skin and started to eat through it. She was vaguely aware of shouts and blaster bolts, something that hummed was thrown. Then she found peace from the pain in the blackness of unconsciousness.

At the same time in the Imperial Palace, the Emperor grimaced.

Palpatine had felt it as soon as it happened. The connection with his hand Mara Jade was cut off, permanently. He would have felt if she had died, so it had to be something else that had happened. Who would be able to destroy the connection between them? No living being could do that, he had made the connection far too strong to be so simply cut off. Then who?

But as much as he wondered, Palpatine was even more angered, because this could mean the loss of his favorite Hand. Her ability of Force powers made her especially valuable for him, and therefore her loss even more painful. And he was sure, that whoever was responsible had planned this in the long hand. "Someone will pay for that..." he whispered angrily.

Back at Mos Epsa, it was chaos in the docking bay. A chaos that had all happened in mere seconds.

The woman had gone down screaming, the back of her clothing ignited by a flamethrower. Two gangsters were behind her, one of them -having a horribly deformed face- triggered a bad memory in Luke of the incident some days ago in the cantina. Han had wasted no time in drawing his blaster to shoot down the gangster with the flamethrower, who at once went into flames with his weapon pierced open by the blaster shot, while Obi-Wan threw his activated lightsaber like a boomerang, cutting the other gangster cleanly in two.

Meanwehile Leia saw the woman, whose clothing already started to fall off because they were burned through by the immense heat, lying motionless on the floor. She wasted no time as soon as the threat was over. Ripping a fire extingusher off the wall she doused the flames, before looking in shock at the horrible injuries the concentrated fire had caused to the woman. Practically all of her back was covered in burn injuries.

"By the Force.... she intercepted what was meant for us by accident! Is she....is she dead?" Leia had seen enough death already and didn't want another innocent to die.

Luke knelt beside her, chicking for life signs. "No, she still has a pulse, and is breathing. But the burns are serious and she will die if she doesn't get medical attention in time. Anything less than a bacta tank will only keep her alive, but won't heal her."

Luke remembered only too well when one of his friends had crashed with his skyhopper while trying to set a new record in Beggar's Canyon. The burn injuries he had recieved were as numerous and serious as these and only in the local hospital was help in form of the bacta tank, possible. His friend still had needed -thanks to the bad equipment of the hospital- weeks to recover from the injuries and still had scars to prove how close it had been.

"We were the target, so we are obliged to help her." Leia shot a hard look to Han, making it clear that the discussion was over. He didn't dare to say a word, as he had no desire to the next round of arguments. "Mother, help me to get her on board! The Alliance has the equipment to heal her. We can't bring her to the local hospital, and something tells me that she is important... Luke! Go and get the first aid!"

"So much for secrecy..." Han mumbled sarcastically. If all Alliance personell tried be be such good Samaritans, it was only a matter of time until they infected a spy upon themselves. He wouldn't say a word. But should something happen, he would wash his hands in innocence.

And so they brought Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand and feared assassin, into the Falcon before lift-off to prevent her from dying because of her injuries. Had they looked back, they would have seen two pale, transparent, ghostly figures, man and woman, watching the disappearing ship, hand in hand.

They had to watch for years how she was drawn into the darkness, unaware what was even wrong with her growing up like that. But since they had already passed away, there was only little they could do. The influence of the Dark One had been so great it had cut their connection to her. Only recently, with the turbulences in the Force and the help of an old friend, did they manage to come through.

However, they had planned something different, and bad timing had brought Mara lots of pain and injury. It had been heartbreaking for them to see her in so much pain. It had hurt them too, as they had shared her pain to take some of her burden, to make up for their blunder that got her injured in the first place. Watching the ship disappear, they now knew that she would make a full recovery. And the Emperor was gone from her mind, as their last action in this world. The future was not longer dark for Mara Jade.

Now their friend would have to fulfill his part in opening Mara's eyes to the truth. They kissed, and then faded away, their souls at peace, their child finally in good hands.

* * *

_...on the Devastator, hours later..._

Vader's search for the neccesary equipment needed to completly alter his life-support was successful. All of it was available on the free market, albeit to horrendous prices that would cause a lesser man to have a stroke when seeing the numbers. His primitive life-support, mostly made that way by the Emperor to make him look like a monster, was something, that would have to be gone.

It would take months filled with lots of painful surgeries and recovery, long physical rehabilitation and excercise. However, Vader was not concerned about that. The thought of Padmè alone had given him strength, much of it. More than he got even in his deepest rages. In a way, only now that he was older and wiser, did he realise how much stregth love could give one. This time, he would not be too weak.

There would be still the difficulty of finding doctors willing to treat him and allow him to erase their memories of him afterwards as a security measure. Such people were hard to find, and all needed to be done in secret. He knew that Padmè wouldn't see him in a more positive light, should he kill the doctors after the treatment to keep them silent.

_Interesting what lengths I go for her, _he mused._  
_  
In the quietness of his meditation chamber, his mind was already going through the other parts on the plans he had made. He would need a lot of time to prepare for it. Good that he was informed and thus knew of this possibility to free himself once and for all while maininging order at the same time. Of course much could happen during this time, so he always had to be prepared to improvise.

Now his mind turned to the task ahead.

What concerned Vader was his report to the Emperor as soon as he was back on Coruscant. The Emperor would ask him many questions, and he would have to answer as truthfully as possible, because the Emperor would sense a pure lie. Twisting and half-truths were the only possible way to do it. Hopefully, Palpatine would be, if not fooled, at least not eager to get more out of him.

_The truth from a certain point of view, _Vader thought. His old master would have put it this way. Strange how this phrase now sounded so true.

Then his comm beeped. "Yes?!"

_"Lord Vader, we will exit hyperspace at Coruscant in 5 minutes!"_ came the voice of the captain. The _new_ captain, because he had killed her predecessor after the escape pod fiasco at Tatooine. In retrospect it was over the edge, but that didn't concern him any longer. He had bigger fish to fry right now.

"Prepare my shuttle. I wish to depart for the Imperial Palace immediately," he told her, before cutting the connection, and walking to the nearby bridge after putting his mask back on. The Devastator was an old ship, so the bridge was only dimly lit and only had screens for outside view, unlike the newer destroyers which had huge panorama viewports at the front. Palpatine had promised Vader a more fitting ship in the future, but at the moment he was stuck with this.

Re-locating to a bigger ship like a cruiser or battlecruiser, was impossible because of his special chamber, which had to be fit in specifically. The Death Star had one because it was a special project. So he had to wait for his turn to get his own ship. Not that the Devastator was a bad ship, but after being on bigger ships even in the Clone Wars, it hurt his personal pride.

Captain Verlare already waited for him, her signature in the Force clearly radiating fear, that she could meet her predecessor's fate. "Sir, we are exiting hyperspace now!" The screen showed the jump to real-space, and the city-planet of Coruscant, with it's moons and enormous space traffic, came into view. "Starship control directs us into geostationar orbit. Your shuttle is ready for depart, my Lord, as soon as you are on board!"

"Very good captain. Re-stock all supplies, hypermatter and tibanna-gas! All non-neccesary personell is granted a half day of leave on the planet." Then Vader left for the hangar bay, to enter his shuttle.

The flight to the Imperial Palace was short and faster than he wished.

The huge structure looming before him clearly dominated the cityscape of Imperial City, dwarfing even the biggest skyscrapers. It was said that the foundation of the palace went down to the crust of the planet, and it was true. So it practically was the highest building of the world. The senate hall, which now had lost its purpose, was near by and merely looked like a pea compared to the palace, while the ruin of the Jedi Temple in the background, a place off-limits to everyone, served as the monument of the victory over the Jedi. A rotten tooth that was left in to show that times have changed.

This was the Emperor's world.

Vader had no eye for this, he needed to prepare for his master's questions. And only minutes later he was kneeling before the throne of the Emperor. The ruler of the galaxy looked at him suspicious. his yellow eyes trying to find any sign of his apprentice's motives. Long minutes passed, and nothing happend, Palpatine testing the patience of his apprentice.

The Emperor carefully probed Vader's signature in the Force, but found nothing. Vader was very good at hiding his self from others, even him. Vader only radiated calmness. It meant that more direct means of getting answers were needed.

"Welcome back, Lord Vader." Palpatine finally said. "I wish a explanation of your reasons why you ordered Alderaan not to be destroyed." Vader flinched, the lack of 'my friend' and letting him kneel, signs of the Emperor's displeasure.

"My master, Tarkin's intended destruction of Alderaan was short-sighted and foolish. It would have only ignited more rebellion and the Alderaanians would have been elevated to mertyrs of the rebellion. My logic was, when we would show mercy, and only take out the real rebels, showing thier true nature, would bring as an advantage. So far, the tactic shows to be extremly successful. Do you think so as well, my master?" Vader hoped, that Palpatine would buy it. The reasoning was real, and he hoped, that it was good enough for Palpatine to accept.

"Yes...a good reasoning, Lord Vader." Palpatine answered after long minutes. Vader had felt the tries to force-probe him by his master, of course without success. "An interesting conclusion you found there. I wonder why only at that moment?"

The accusion was clear, he questioned his apprentice's timing on only deciding to that tactic when Alderaan was about to get destroyed. Vader answered carefully, "Even I as a Sith am not perfect. The logical conclusion only came to me at that moment."

"Quite true... I also got reports from Tarkin, that your old master was on the Death Star, but escaped, dispite your tries to kill him..." the accusing undertone was clearly audiable. Vader had to be careful, not to fall into that trap.

"Obi-Wan was part of the Rebel group, which freed the princess. I was distracted for a second, and he, as the coward he is, ran away to safety!" Part of the anger in him was real. He really would have liked to strike down Kenobi.

Palpatine seemed statisfied, although there was still some mistrust remaining. The rage over Kenobi's escape finally convinced him that Vader right now was no threat. However, he would put Vader under further observation. "Very well, Lord Vader! Rise, my friend."

Vader felt relieved, that Palpatine accepted his words, even if after long thinking. Rising to his feet, he waited for the Emperor to continue.

"Much had happend while your absence. Your tactic has indeed proved effective... I am in the process of divering a new political plan to sway the masses. But this is for the future..." The Emperor paused for a moment. Time to give Vader some sugar to hold him loyal and to keep him busy. "On another note... I have given my blessing for a new military programm. A total new class of starship is already in construction. These powerful Commandships will be, apart from the Death Star, the most visible symbols of the glory of the Empire."

"I am sure their sight alone will make our enemies think twice about opposing us," Vader added. He really would have to see the plans for these ships later.

_Ha ha, now I have him hooked... _That was exactly the reaction Palpatine had waited for. This would hold Vader's attention for months, preventing interference. "Yes... And to reward your loyal services to the Empire, the first one will be yours. Go to the shipyards at Fondor when you are finished with your affairs here my friend, and watch over the construction."

Finally! Vader could finally get his own ship. One that was fitting for him. For his plans this was perfect to be far away from the Emperor, and the thought of a capital ship for him alone was statisfying. Of course he knew that his master did that as well to keep him away for important affairs, but ironically it would serve his plan much better than anything he could have come up with.

"I feel honored, my master." And he really meant it.

Palatine knew, Vader had still some things hidden from him. The loss of his hand made it more difficult to get behind it now. But he had all time in the galaxy to accomplish that. _Never underestimate me, Vader.... _"I knew, you would be interested. The ship, you will command, my friend, will be called... the 'Executor'."

* * *

_...Millenium Falcon..._

Mara Jade felt terrible. She had yet to regain her senses, but the first thing she noticed was that her mouth was as dry as Tatooine. It tasted ugly and foul. _Yuck, propably tastes like shoe polish. _

Feeling returned next. She was lying on her stomach on some kind of bunk. Her head rested on a pillow. From her ankles up to her shoulders, she was very tightly wrapped into a metallic feeling foil. Under that she was stark naked, and some sort of cool gel was thickly smeared on her burns. _Standard first aid equipment against burns, seems it had hit me hard...._

Then hearing came back. The humming of a spaceship was prominent in her ears. That and the sounds of fingers using a keyboard. _Okay, now it gets interesting._

Opening her eyes, she found herself in the back part of what seemed to be the Corellian freighter she had observed. So much for not entering the death trap. It was the part of the common area, that was a bit apart of the rest and the door was closed. Beside it, Padmè Amidala was writing things at a console, not looking to her at the moment.

Carefully Mara tried to move and regretted it at once. Burning agony shot up her spine, causing her to loudly moan in pain. That alerted Amidala at once. "Please don't try to move! It will only increase the pain."

To follow that order was easy. Simply being still helped to lessen the pain and she did not dare to move again. _Why the heck do they help me? They are the enemy! _"How...how bad?"

Padmè went to her, clearly with the intention to calm her down. "You got pretty bad burns on your legs, butt and most of your back. Some of your hair was burned also, and we had to cut it off, but don't worry, you've still got enough left." Then Padmè smirked lightly despite the serious topic. "But you are lucky in one aspect. All your female attributes are still undamaged."

Mara's cheeks reddened when her mind registered, what exactly Amidala had meant. Then, something occurred to her "I'm naked! Did anyone....?" She fell silent when Padmè raised her hands to make her go quiet.

"We had to get you out of the burned remains of your clothes clean the burns before wrapping you into that. But don't fear for your dignity. I sent all the males out so that only my daughter and I have seen you undressed." While Padmè said that she put a thermometer without warning into Mara's mouth as soon as Mara tried to say something.

Mara felt treated like a little kid but didn't dare to spit the thermometer out. No need to anger her 'nurse'. _Hm. The the said that she had never married. But it also said that the body at the funeral clearly had appeared pregnant. I better contact my master now._

She tried to contact him via their connection, but there was nothing. Where his lurking presence usually was, now nothing existed but a void. Also, all special codes were gone from her head, probably because she only knew them because the Emperor had them in _his _head and shared them with her. They had this connection as long as she could remember, so she felt slightly paniced what to do now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Padmè removed the thermometer all of a sudden.

Padmè tsked when reading her tempeature. "There is a little fever too. I think it is best for you to sleep.... I don't know your name. What are you called? My name is Padmè."

_What can it hurt, to tell them my true name? I was erased from all files anyway.... _"My name is.... Mara Jade. I think I simply was at the wrong place at the wrong time when I mistook your docking by for mine." Then she added "I hope I'm no burden for you."

"Oh no! Don't say this! It is in a way our fault that you are injured. These gangsters were clearly after us. My son said that he recognized one of them from some days ago."

_Two children....very interesting. But useless because my master is far away and I have nothing left, not even my clothes. _The realization came to Mara now that she was totally on her own. She decided to play along for now.

Padmè meanwhile had filled a spoon with some liquid. "This will help you to sleep. Say 'Ahhhhh'."

Mara really wondered why this woman had to insist treating her like some little girl. "Ahhhhh." The spoon was shoved into her moth and she grimaced when her tongue detected an extremely bitter taste. Forcing herself, she swollowed it down.

Seeing that this was done, Amidala gave Mara a small smile. "It wasn't so difficult, right? Well, I think you will only wake up after they have pulled you out of the bacta tank. Sweet dreams until then."

Mara cursed in her thoughts. She hated bacta tanks since she had to use one years ago. It had been very unpleasant because it had made her sick in the stomach and she had vowed never to be so injured again that she had to use the tank. That thought still in her mind, she drifted to sleep.

Seeing that her patient had fallen asleep, Amidala went to leave her in peace.

"I give up, I will never understand this!" Leia was frustrated because the building of her lightsaber was even more complicated than she had thought it would be, despite Obi-Wan's help. She simply wasn't made for assembling electronics. But Obi-Wan would not accept her giving up and patiently tried to explain to her how to continue.

Chewbacca was watching Luke while he continued to train with the remote. In the half a hour, not even one shot had hit Luke, despite his closed helmet. It was the first sign that he began to feel the Force better.

Only Han was nowhere in sight. He had gone to sleep in his cabin with still hours to go until they would reach the fleet. All stopped their activities however, when Padmè came back into the room. At once, a maelstrom of questions greeted her. Patiently she waited until it had calmed down, before answering shortly.

"First, our patient is called Mara Jade. Second, she is asleep again. Third, I'm a very tired woman and now I want some sleep, so if you would please excuse me!" Without wasting more words, she went to get some sleep. The others went back to their previous activities.

Obi-Wan was thoughtful as he continued helping Leia to built her lightsaber. _Jade....is it possible? I know the two vanished some time before the Empire was declared. Time will tell, if my assumption is true. I have to be careful! _

_**to be continued...**_


	6. Revelations

The usual disclaimers, that Star Wars isn't mine, but belongs to Big G...

Foreword:

When I originally wrote "The Angel of Alderaan", my writing skills weren't as developed as they are now. Now, years later, I looked at it, and decided, that while it was good back then, it has numerous flaws, was often far too superfacial in its storyline and didn't go into the needed detail. Also it didn't mesh well with Episode III (since I wrote it 2004), something needed nowadays.

So I decided to take it apart, drop and put in scenes, write new scenes, change parts of the story, and generally try to create a far better result than the first time. Based on the skeleton of the old story, this will replace the old one, the old one is already erased to avoid spoilers. So have fun with "The Angel of Alderaan- Remixed".

Note: I did edit the older chapters to put in more detail and correct some errors.

* * *

**Chapter V- Revelations  
**  
The cruiser Home One was the central base of the Rebellion, now that the Yavin base destroyed. Because of the Death Star, a mobile base was also better than a planetary one. A planetary base had practically become a sitting duck with a weapon when being faced with a weapon that could smash planets to dust. It was their biggest ship; their only big ship. It was a gift from the Mon Calamari people who had not yet decided if they wanted to join or not, mostly because they feared what could happen once the Empire found out.

The ship was surely beautiful in a strange way. Being a former passenger ship, its asthetics were unusual for a warship. Refitting the former passenger ship to a warship was a task not even finished yet. Meaning that the whole ship was still a huge construction site.

The main hangar of the big cruiser was a hub of activity when the Falcon landed in it. Crews were busy with unloading cargo and equipment salvaged from the evacuated Yavin base. New personell was coming onboard, while others were shipped away. All this while parts of the hangar were clearly still being re-modeled. It seemed that the destruction of Yavin IV had really hit the Rebellion on the wrong foot.

"Princess Leia." A soldier greeted them as soon as they left the Falcon. "I have orders from Mon Mothma herself to escort your group right to the council chambers. The medical team will bring your guest to the sickbay. If you please follow me..."

"Excuse us, but we'll meet up later. The Falcon needs some additional fixing. The wiring of the hyperdrive has burned through," Han excused himself, propably also to escape a boring meeting where he'd be useless anyway.

_Our captain surely knows how to escape boredom... _Leia thought, knowing from experience that council meetings could become really boring, even for her. Then they left the hangar, following the soldier through the bright white corridors.

Chaos also dominated the corridors on their way. Equipment and personell made it difficult to navigate through to corridors, and the mix of voices completed the picture of disorder. They'd to flatten themselves again the wall a few times to allow a hoversled with crates to pass the corridor. It was obvious that it would take some time for this chaos to settle.

Finally they arrived at the council room. The room itself wasnt that big a rather unremarkable. Its only defining feature the big table at its center. At the big table before them sat six people, flanked by a guard on each side, watching them with interest when they entered. Four of them were human and there were two aliens.

Leia first saw Mon Mothma in the central seat. The former senator from Chandrilla was the elected leader of the high command. She looked older than she was, years of fight had eaten away at her substance. Being one of the persons of the first hour of the Rebellion, she was held in high regard everywhere.

To her right was the Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar, who watched them with his big eyes. He'd been only freed months ago from being Tarkin's personal slave. Despite looking a little odd to human eyes, he was really brilliant a an admiral and also proved that he had the right personality to lead people.

The seat to her left was empty, and Leia had to hold back a tear. It was Bail's seat, now robbed of its occupant. She'd substituted for him often, thus being familiar with this seat. But she doubted that she'd be able to fill in for him full time.

Jan Dodonna they already knew, and he was not in any way surprised to see them. General Bel Iblis from Corellia and General Riekaan watched them with interest. They were both men of the military and had their code of honor. The huge respect they enjoyed with the tropps being the reason for them being where they were now.

The last one at once made her mood sour. She had no nerves left to hear Borsk Fe'lya's tirades now. The Bothan had irritated her since he had entered the high command. He was a rather shady person with vague motives. The reason why he'd risen so high up being that he'd excellent connections to the Bothan spy network.

No, she didn't want to dwell on this person.

Mon Mothma got up to greet them and then noticed the new lightsaber hanging at the belt on Leia's hip. A gentle smile told her that she approved of that development. "Welcome to Home One. Please excuse the chaos, but we still have to bring order to the confusion brought to us after the evacuation of Yavin base. Please take your seats; I think we will have much to talk about."

_So far everything went smoothly. Maybe this time there won't be trouble... _she hoped.

However, after a while it went like she had feared it would. While the other high command members were friendly towards them, and Mon Mothma even on first name basis with her mother since they knew each other from the days of the Republic, Fe'lya immediatly tried to make accusations towards them. It was taxing for their nerves to deal with the choleric Bothan and his paranoia (propably coming from his line of work).

An hour went by, then two.

Fe'lya accused them of various things, including that Mara could be an imperial spy (an ironic accusation), that the whole Jedi thing was a sham, and that maybe they wiped the Death Star plans by themselves to serve the Empire. Also he didn't believe Amidala's identity, speculating that she was propably just a decoy to gain their trust. Padmè knew this kind of people, having endured lots of them during her years in the senate. And the whole time. However, finally the point came where her patience found its end.

"...as for the question who should take the seat of Bail Organa, I think Amidala is best suited to take over his duties. After all she has losts of experience in matters of leadership," Mon Mothma suggested to the others when the topic came up.

The others gave their approval, apart from Fe'lya. "I must protest! Her qualification is doubtful. This looks more like a favor for an old friend and nothing more."

Padmè, who had ignored all other accusations, angrily marched directly before the Bothan, glaring daggers at him. Now it was personal and she wouldn't let this go by. "Now listen, Mr. Fe'lya! This is not because I'm an old friend of Mon Mothma, or because I knew some of the council members! I'm a schooled politician, and was a leader of my people for many years. You, on the other hand, are a shady character who only got into high command because of your troops of spies. You don't have any leadership qualities, live with it!"

After some seconds of speechlessness, Fe'lya became really angry. He was deeply offended that this woman dared to doubt HIS qualifications. "That's outrageous! I'm not here to be insulted!" Using the extensive vocabulary of his native language to shout definitely foul words, he left the room. But not before giving Amidala one last, angry look.

Padmè feared that she had overdone it, but Leia reassured her. "Don't worry, he will come back. That has already happened several times. He is simply someone unpleasant, I have witnessed it myself. Although..." She now look thoughtful. "The way he looked at you, I think you just made it on his list of strongest rivals."

"I know his kind, saw enough of those during my senate years. Lots of hot air with little substance. Too bad that we have to tolerate him." Looking to Mon Mothma, she added "Sorry for this scene, but I finally had had enough when he questioned all my hard work."

"Actually I need to apologise. The way he treated you was unacceptable," Mothma answered, then indicated for Amidala to take her seat. "There is lots we have to introduce you to. Also lots of work ahead of us. That includes the princess."

Leia nodded, she knew this would have to be done, then looked to Obi- Wan and her brother. "I think you two can leave. Luke, you would be only bored by the whole political and tactical talk that will now come, it's nothing exciting and -this is no insult- you propably won't even understand most of it. And as far as I know from mother, our master dislikes politics in general. I don't think he wants to be bothered with it. The quartermaster can assign you cabins and we will meet you later to talk about what we can do to help the Alliance."

Luke wasn't sad in the slightest that he could leave. The last two hours had been hard on his nerves. "No problem Leia. Ben and I want to see after Mara anyway. See you later!" he told he a little too eager before he left with Obi-Wan to find the quartermaster.

But it was easier said than done in the confusion ruling the corridors, and they had to ask for directions several times to prevent getting lost on the huge ship. _Help the Force! If the whole Rebellion is so chaotic, then I doubt they will win the fight against the Empire!_ Luke though, while watching his surroundings. Hopefully this would get better with time.

Obi-Wan's thoughts went in the same direction. Since he had experience with working in an army, he knew that this group of freedom fighters really needed to get their act together. The Empire had a huge advantage with its flawless organisation. Everything went as planned, everything was at its place. The advantage of a totalitarian state, and hard to counter with a force of free-minded, partially chaotic people.

Luke meanwhile was so absorbed with his own thoughts when turning around a corner, he did not notice the pilot until he had collided full force with him, both of them falling to the floor.

"Oh sorry, I hadn't seen you...." Then he saw the pilot, and he was surprised that it was a familiar face for him. One that he didn't expect to see again. "Biggs?" He recognized his old friend from Tatooine. He had last seen him days ago in Anchorhead, saying goodbye to him. Biggs had planned to join the Rebellion, a move Luke had found bold back then, since he thought opposing the Empire would be suicide. Look where he was now! Judging by his pilot outfit and the fact that he was there, Biggs had really made it.

"Luke?" Biggs felt, as if he was back on Tatooine. There was his friend, still in his farmer outfit, and that on board of the flagship of the Rebellion! He had the feeling that fate was truely strange if his friend who was so opposed to leaving Tatooine, suddenly was a Rebel. He did not hesitate to help him up. "Luke, my friend!" They both shook hands warmly. "I thought you were still on Tatooine!"

"Well, I'm here now. I thought I would never see you again after Anchorhead! You seem to have made it where you wanted to be," Luke told him, feeling that at least having one of his old friends around was better than nothing. Boy, there was so much to tell him!

Biggs indicated at his outfit "Yes, I finally found my destiny here. Now I can make a difference and fight for what I believe in." Biggs seemed to literally beam with pride. He then noticed Obi-Wan. "Say, Luke, who is your companion there?" He pointed to Obi-Wan, who had held back until now.

"Biggs, do you remember the talk about the wizard of the Juntland desert, the old Ben?" Luke asked his friend.

Bigs shugged. "Who didn't? Camie's parents used it to say he'll take her with him, should she disobey. My parents said that this is rubbish and he's just an old man who's a little strange, nothing more."

"Well, better believe the magical part This is him, Ben Kenobi, also known as Obi-Wan," Luke indtroduced the old master to his friend.

"An actual, living Jedi? Man, I thought they're just legends. Guess you wanted to keep you privacy by spreading this rumor?" Biggs asked Obi-Wan. How strange that he would find Luke in the company of this man.

"Actually it's because of the sandpeople. I scared them so much that their stories must have leaked to the human population. I never wanted to become a horror-story for children," Obi-Wan defended himself. He himself would have never spread such rumors, since it went contrary to his goal to stay under the radar.

Biggs shook his head. "So much happend... Luke, we all have much to talk about! Do you have some place where we can talk? And I thought your uncle would never let you off Tatooine...." Biggs flinched, when he noticed Luke's pained expression at the mention of his uncle. "Something happened to them, am I right....?" he asked carefully, and got a nod for confirmation.

"Come Biggs, Ben and I must go to quartermasters for cabins. We can talk there..." Luke didn't make any further comment on Bigg's blunder.

That was something which Obi-Wan observed with worry. He had to talk about it with Luke soon. Silently following them, his thoughts went to something else. Mara's possible parentage. The two knights he suspected were known for not taking the rules very seriously, and got into hot water with the council more than once.

But right now it was speculation, he had to take a closer look.

* * *

_...later..._

The cabin was not very big, but still the three of them had enough space for a talk. They both told Biggs their adventures, what had happened so far, and how Luke finally found the family he had thought lost forever. A full hour later, Biggs was speechless in awe after the full story had unfolded in front of him. And to imagine that days ago he'd been a simple farmer was almost unbelievable.

_Luke really got the big stick! My old friend got more excitement in these few days than in his whole life before! _"Wow Luke! That was....unbelievable! You have lost so much...and gained so much in these few days! Do you sometimes wonder if that all is real?"

"At the beginning, but now I see that it can't have been any different. It's hard to describe, just trust me." Luke knew it was simply too difficult to explain a feeling he got from the Force. However, now his own curiosity needed to be statisfied. "Biggs, I still don't know how you got here, and how you have fared in these days! Please, tell us your story now."

Biggs collected his thoughts, before he began. "Well okay. Luke, after our talk in Anchorhead, I went to Bestine, to the friend I mentioned to you, and he was really a big help. He had contacts with one of the members of Red squadron, who organized transportation for me to Yavin IV. I got though their tests with such good results, that I'm now member of the squadron. I never saw you on Yavin IV, because after evacuation was declared, it all happened really fast, and the squadron flew over several waypoints to Home One."

Biggs paused then, as if he now remembered something horrible. "But fortune was not with us, because there was one of these big imperial cruisers at one waypoint. You know these things that are four times as big as a Star Destroyer. Out of twelve pilots only three made it into hyperspace.... the squadron leader whose name we don't know and only call 'Red Leader', Wedge Antilles who is the friend of the friend who helped my to enter the Rebellion, and myself. "

"Oh, damn, I didn't know, sorry..." Luke hadn't wanted to open that fresh wound.

"I know that it's bad... but they told me on the first day to expect that during a war... And to be honest, they were mostly blank faces for me, I didn't know them at all and can't feel personal loss. I know it sounds mean, but it simply is like that for me," he told Luke.

Seeing Luke not protesting, he continued, "Luke, since you mentioned this... we are now in serious need of new pilots for the squadron... We could use someone like you. I could get you to the testing chambers for a try. What do you think?"

That came all of a sudden to Luke, and it was tempting. He had always wanted to fly a starfighter. And to suddenly be presented with this opportunity... Luke looked hopeful to Obi-Wan "Ben, would it possible for me to be a pilot and still train in the ways of the Force?"

Obi-Wan had already thought that Luke would ask him that. Just like his father, Luke was fascinated with flying. It would have been heartless to forbid it. And also, he could only teach one twin a time in a lesson, so it could be done without too much of a problem. "That's no problem at all. I'm sure we can work something out."

"Luke is one of the best pilots, I have ever seen. Red Leader surely will have nothing against it, especially when he proves himself in simulation! I will take you to to the simulation chamers, Luke! Please excuse us Mr. Kenobi..." Biggs took Luke by the hand and before Obi-Wan could bring out another word they had already left.

_Ah, the impulsiveness of youth... _he thought in amusement, before turning serious. _Well, I have to do something too. Let's see if my assumption out this Mara Jade is correct. If so, I will have to be careful around her..._

It took him only little time to actually find the sickbay after some questions, but a different problem arose right then: He was denied entry into the bacta-tank room.

Because of the location of the burns, Mara floated naked in the tank, unable to wear one of the swimsuit-like garments normally worn by females in the tank. And to secure her privacy, only directly involved medical personnel was allowed inside. This thoughtful measure to ensure her privacy made things more difficult but not impossible.

Thankfully, Obi-Wan didn't need to be in the same room, only close to her, althought it would take more concentration.

Slowly sinking into the Force while standing beside the door , he started to carefully examine her Force signature. It was bright, so she was Force strong. He felt lots of anger from her, mixed with confusion and fear. Obi-Wan saw pieces of subconscious memories, and they made him shudder. Her life hadn't been an easy one. Yet despite that, she'd managed to sustain her inner light.

Going deeper he finally found different pictures, that proved what he had suspected the whole time. _She IS the one I thought she is. I don't think that she remembers these things. I will have to be on my guard that she will not betray out trust. I will wait and see how things will proceed._

Obi-Wan then left the sickbay, to retire into his cabin. It had been a long day, and sleep was now one of things he really needed. He also knew that tomorrow would be a busy day. A busy day of many to come.

* * *

_...in the simulator room..._

"This is a fantastic score! I've only seldom seen something that good! Who is the pilot in simulator 3?" Red Leader asked Wedge Antilles, when he saw the results of the tests for pilots, who wanted to join the squadron.

After the last massacre of the squadron at the hands of the Empire, they were on a desperate search for good pilots. So far they'd found some promising recruits, but the score from that one... he had at first thought that the damn display was broken. After chicking it on a different display, he was deeply impressed. And he knew, they had to have this pilot at all costs!

"I don't know, sir! Biggs brought him here and said, it was a friend, but no name. I think, we should ask them ourselves." Wedge, a man only slightly older than Luke, told the old squadron leader before they went to the said simulator.

These two men couldn't be more different. The one young and all too eager to use his new skills to fight the oppression in the galaxy. The other a veteran of almost 35 active years as a pilot, collected and wise with his experience. The one thing that connected these two different men was the wish for better, free times in the galaxy.

Biggs Darklighter was standing beside the simulator, waiting for Luke to come out. Hearing steps he looked up. Seeing Red Leader und Wedge walking up to him, he knew that Luke's performance had already created the attention he knew it would create. Luke was the best pilot he'd met in his life, and that Red Leader came her now, proved it. "Yes, Red Leader?" he asked.

"Darklighter! Who is your friend in there?" Red Leader asked him in excitement. "He has one of the best scores I've ever seen! We have to have him in the squadron!"

Before Biggs was able to answer, the simulator opened up and Luke came out. Seeing that he was not alone with Biggs, Luke became a little nervous. "Uhm, how did I do?"

"Well, young man, you beat all of the other participants. And you're modest about that, to beat... Well, son, we really can use pilots like you. What is your name?" Red Leader said, while already imagining the blonde-haired man in pilot's clothing.

"Luke...Luke Skywalker." He said, a bit unsure after hearing his results. He hadn't really done much, just played along with the simulation. That he'd beaten all the others by far was even a little shocking to him. He had had no idea that he was THAT good.

Red Leader raised an eyebrow, that wasn't a common name. Indeed, after looking at the young man, it raised a question. "Skywalker? Any chance that you are related to the war hero Anakin Skywalker?"

Luke nodded "Yes, he... he is my father. My mother told me that I look a lot like him."

"Well, your mother must be a good judge on appearance then, since you really take after him. Although I never knew that he has children... guess even war heroes want their privacy.... You know, I actually was there in his very first battle. When I saw him fly when he was only nine years, he destroyed a droid control ship above Naboo...." Red Leader remembered.

They had had no chance to get through the shields of such a ship. They were like flies trying to impress a Bantha; meaning totally ineffective. Then the miracle had happened, and a nine year old Anakin was able to destroy the ship from within. At the time, Red Leader had been still a young man of 19 years. Now, with age catching up, he thought about retiring. But meeting Luke awakened old memories.

"I know of the battle. My mother told me about it. She had said without him they would have lost the battle." Luke wondered why Red Leader seemed surprised when he mentioned her.

"Young man, who exactly is your mother? From the sounds of it she comes from Naboo, which is my own home planet. It's been some time since I met someone from home in person..."

Luke knew, this revelation would come as a small shock to Red Leader, but he felt that good would come from it. "Would you believe me when I say that she's the former queen and senator Amidala?" Seeing Red Leader's unconvinced look, he added, "It's true. She faked her own death to ensure that I and my sister are safe from the Empire. If you don't believe me, she's here on this very ship."

Now _that _got his attention.

"No joke?" He really wanted to believe that. He had no respect for the current rulers of Naboo , although he didn't fault them for being under so much pressure from the Empire. The last important politician from Naboo who he felt deserved full respect was Padmè Amidala. "Sorry, but I have to see her to believe that. If it's true, I have to give her news from the home world."

He knew that if it was true, then the news he'd have to tell her wouldn't be good. However, it would also mean that his friend Panaka could finally shake off his feelings of guilt he carried for 19 years now, that he had been unable to protect the senator. That she'd actually 'died' after the end of the war was extra salt into the wound.

Maybe now this wound could finally heal.

* * *

_...meanwhile on Coruscant..._

The central prison on Coruscant -a simple, huge cube without any features- was a place that everybody feared. Not because of torture, nor because of cruel terms of imprisonment. No, it was the quietness, the sterile atmosphere, the nonexistence of time, that tended to damage to minds of the prisoners. Being brought to 'Central' was generally seen as a punishment in itself for the weaker-minded.

However, the quietness of the prison was disrupted when Vader walked down the corridor to the prison block that contained his prey. His boots banged loudly on the floor and his breathing echoed from the bare walls. The brightly lit corridors were a sharp contrast to his black armor. Then finally he had reached the cell of his first target: Bail Organa.

Said man looked up when he heard the door of his cell openening. Seeing Vader enter, he stood up. "What do I owe the honor of your presence to?" he asked him sarcastically. He didn't any longer care for his safety, since he was a prisoner anyway.

Vader had to admit, even in prison garb, Organa still looked really defaint. "The only reason why I don't strangle you on the spot is that Admidala spoke in your favor." He remembered her mentioning it during their discussion that he should help her to free his daughter. "Questions arose that I want answers to. Now!"

"And why should I do that?"

Vader was tempted to show him a piece of his mind to make him answer, but he controlled himself. After all, Padmè otherwise wouldn't like it. And if he ever wanted to again get into her good graces, he had to start somewhere. "I do this for Amidala's and my daughter's sake. Answer honestly and I will use my influence to ensure that you are spared from the death penalty."

That was news to Bail that Vader knew about Leia's true parentage. Should he really accept this offer? "What exactly do you want to know? No way I will commit treason."

"Simple. What exactly were the connections between you and my daughter? Nothing more."

That was another surprise. Bail had expected Vader to ask him about secrets of the Alliance, but not such a personal request. It made the whole thing a lot less dangerous. Finally he made a decision, since it wouldn't do any harm. "All right, I'll tell you. It was my second wife who had blackmailed me into adopting Leia into house Organa. I never wanted to do it, but refusing her would have brought a major crisis over Alderaan, so I gave in after a long fight... However, I never pretended to Leia that I'm her father, and we both agreed that while I care for her, I could never replace him. I always tried to keep Amidala up to date on her child and promised Leia that when the time would be right, I would reveal her true parentage to her."

Vader had stayed silent, checking if Organa said the truth. He could detect no falsehood. "You told the truth. This will be to your advantage."

"They have both endured a lot, I don't want to see them hurt more than they already have been... I know I could regret this, but I better say this now... My wife knows who you are." He let this hang in the air.

"I see..." Vader turned to leave. "You are a honest man, Viceroy. Sadly, you are on the wrong side, or things would be different now. I still want a talk with your wife. She will pay the price for what she has done to them!" He then left and the door closed shut.

Bail knew he should feel ashamed that he had sentenced Roxana to a cruel fate. But he simply couldn't find any pity for her. And it was this lack of pity for her, that scare him.

Vader meanwhile made his way to the cell of Roxana Organa. Unlike Bail, she wouldn't get the nice treatment. After all everything he had gathered that she was just a cold and power-hungry bitch, so no one would ask any questions. _I will show her that hurting the ones I love will have dire consequences!_ Oh, he would not kill her, but he would think about something fitting for her.

FInally he reached her cell and opened it.

Even in prison garb with her hair cut to normal length, Roxana Organa looked arrogant and cold. "So, Lord Vader, you finally dared, to come to me!" she greeted him. Her tone made clear made it clear that she still was full of herself.

That made Vader only angrier. "You better watch your tone, Organa. I'm not a patient man."

Rxoana snorted as if she didn't care at all. "Oh, I know who you are, and I can also guess why you are here. You're here because of your little idiot daughter and the tramp who arried you."

Now Vader had enough! Nobody dared to insult his family and get away with it! With a strike of his artificial right hand, he hit her full in the face, throwing her to the ground. He was pleased to see that she bleed out of nose and mouth and that he had knocked out several of her teeth.

"I warned you..." Normally he didn't get that physical, but the bitch had simply made him snap.

Despite her bloodied face, she laughed. "If you want to beat me to death, be my guest. Only proves that you are indeed a shallow, dark peon whose only means are violence."

"What idea do you have of darkness...?" Grabbing her by the throat he held herup to eye level, then made the lenses of his mask transparent. "I will show you the true darkness...."

His blue eyes were like pools of blue fire and as much as she tried, Roxana was unable to look away. Her mind was totally unable to cope with the abyss of darkness, suffering, pain and loss that flooded into her from these cold eyes. She screamed to him to stop, but he ignored her, until her screames became gibberish, then he let her go.

Looking down on her, he noted with statisfaction that her mind was now damaged beyond repraid. _Now you now the true meaning of darkness. A fitting end for you to exist as a vegetable..._

His business done, he left.

There were still things to do, and bureaucratic work to be done before he could return to the Devastator and head to the Fondor ship yards to watch over the building of his new ship. Normally, the time for building such a big ship was six months because of all the bureaucratic garbage that went with it. But with him there to prevent that from happening, it would be only three months. Also, this was enough time to let his plans become reality.

All was going as he wanted it to be.

* * *

_...in the Imperial Palace at the same time..._

The meeting with the heads of the Imperial Navy and Army was going smoother than Palpatine had thought. Finally, after Tarkin had fallen into disgrace, they dared to voice their concerns about his military doctrine. Rule through fear sounded good on paper, but in reality it was nearly useless. Not separating between innocents and true enemies was another problem that had strengthened the Rebels, they told him.

Not that he cared about that in the slightest, he was just interested in cementing his rule. And changing the rules of engagement to create an atmosphere of 'the Empire does the right thing' was just a move in the big game. And more important, they could still use all means of violence, they just had to make sure that they would save face and never allow their enemy to look like a victim.

They wouldn't be able to cumpletely pull the rug from under the Rebels -after all there were always those who would dislike the Empire nonetheless- but with some patience they'd become a much more manageable nuisance.

_Not that they are much of a threat to begin with, but I can't tolerate their existence... _he thought while listening in patience to another General.

Now, to combine that with the next phase of his plan would be important. It would be useless to enforce these new rules, if thee wasn't a big factor to unite the population of the Empire behind him. Just like he did in the Clone Wars by creating an atmosphere of pure nationalism and hatred for a common enemy. Thankfully he already had such an enemy at his hands, even if they thought they'd gone unnoticed by now.

Somewhat ironic that Vader's disobiedience had helped him to jump-start his political mind, the politician in him re-awakening. Brute force alone was good. But brute force combined with the right propaganda and tactic was devastating. The Rebels wouldn't know what hit them until their support would wane.

But this was in the future. Right now they had to prepare for the revealing of their big new enemy to the masses, and that included presenting some of them to said masses. Thankfully he knew where to find them. One even had the gall to try and hide in his court. It had been stupid, since the man was a literal hole in the Force, making it damn easy to figure out that he was clearly not a baseline human.

To secretly probe his mind had proven to be a challenge, his race obviously hardened against telepaths, but in the end he did succeed and what he found had been very interesting. Yes, he would have to give him an invitation to a state dinner where the trap would snap shut.

_You think you are smart, Nom Anor... But no one outsmarts me..._

* * *

_...unknown place...._

Darkness. Everything was covered in it, and Mara had no clue where she was. The last thing she remembered was how she had fallen asleep in the Falcon. And now she found herself in this darkness with no clue how she had ended up here. Had the crew simply dumped her out into space and she had died? If yes, then the afterlife was pretty much disappointing.

_Damn Rebel scum, I bet they... _She was unable to finish the thought.__

"Don't worry, you are quite alive."

"Who was that? Show yourself!" she shouted, her danger sense telling her that whoever it was, he cloaked himself well.

A shape slowly peeled out of the blackness, seeming to glow by itself. It was a man who Mara guessed to be in his late forties. His long brown hair and his beard were beginning to gray. He wore the robe of a Jedi knight and was unarmed. He looked friendly but Mara remembered what her Master taught her about the Jedi, and prepared to defend herself if necessary. After all, the Jedi had almost pulled the galaxy down into chaos. That, and she had personal reasons.

"Don't worry, young Mara, I'm not here to harm you. And even if that would be my intention, I can't. You see, I'm quite dead. No, I'm here to guide you." His voice was soft and assuring. Nonetheless, Mara became defensive.

"I don't know who you are or how you know my name. But I will make it clear that I can't stand Jedi knights! Just leave me alone! I know what they tried to do to me just because children weren't an option in their order!" she shouted in hatred.

She really meant it. Her master had told her that sad story, how he came to be her guardian. How the clone troopers who had stormed into the temple the night before the foundation of the Empire had found these knights ready to sacrifice a newborn -a newborn that had been her- just because marriage and children were forbidden in the order. Because of this, she hated Jedi. And now to meet one in person made this hatred errupt in full force.

In her anger, she tried to attack him, but he was like fog and she simply ran through him. "What the...?"

The Jedi rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Please, like I said, I'm dead... Why do you young ones always are so disbelieving?"

"I don't have to listen to this!" Mara pouted, turning away. It was childisch but she hoped that if she ignored him enough, he would vanish. The Jedi didn't take ofense, as if he had expected this.

"Well, young one, you really believe everything the Emperor told you? Was there anything other than his words that proved what he said?" said the Jedi, not even in the slightest concerned about her hostility.

Seeing that Mara continued to try and ignore him, he sighed."Why does that remind me of my old padawan...?" Walking around Mara, he faced her. "You can't simply walk away. See, this is inside of your head, if you want to say it that way. You are floating inside of a bacta tank, sleeping."

Stopping her attempt to ignore the Jedi, she looked him directlyinto the eyes. "What in all names do you want from me? Why can't you just return to your grave and leave me in peace?"

"I promised two friends to do this. I want to show you the truth about your upbringing, which is so deeply hidden inside of you," the Jedi cryptically told her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about.... apart from the fact that you are obviously try to make my master look bad." Mara was really angry that the Jedi tried to paint her mast in bad colors. What hidden truth? It all smelled of one big lie. But still, there was something strange in the back of her mind, as if something in her head itched.

"He has hidden the truth well and made you forget, but the memories were actually never erased, only deeply hidden inside of you. And I will help you to dig them out....." While he said this, the pain in her head had increased; the darkness around her began to swirl in a chaos of colors and sounds. Then finally it manifested itself into a room.

It was the throne room of the Emperor. It looked a bit different, as if some of the changes to it weren't made yet. Palpatine sat in the throne, looking younger although it was hard to tell with his deformed face.

"What is this?" Mara demanded to know. "Another mind-trick of yours?"

"WHEN would be a better question. This is part of your memories, sixteen years ago," he calmly explained to her, then pointed to the space below where, surrounded by four red guards, were two humans, clad in civilian clothing, a man and a woman. The woman was holding a child, not even two years old, with red hair and green eyes. Mara felt something churning in her stomach as she saw this. It was as if something bad came up.

The Emperor rose then descended to the captives. "Melecor and Eboyla Jade. Finally we meet, and you two thought I had given up finding you. I knew the potential in such a marriage of Jedi who left the order would be great. Good thing I found you before Lord Vader did...hehe."

"What do you want, Palpatine?" the man asked, helf in fear and half in defiance.

"Well, her of course. She is young, and I have great plans for her!" Palpatine pointed to the child in Eboyla's arms.

"You can't take Mara away from us!" She tried to hold her child tight but suddenly one of the guards grabbed the girl and ripped her out of her mothers grasp. "No, you can't!" she cried, before a guard slammed the butt of his lance into her stomach, silencing her.

Young Mara screamed, kicked and tried to get lose, but it was totally useless against the superior strength of the red guard. That one guard walked up to stand beside the Emperor, who again laughed. "I never said that you two have a choice in the matter... As for you two..." He raised his hands. "I have no need for witnesses..."

Lightning shot out of his fingers, hitting the two of them full force. They screamed in pain, while the heat set them on fire. The only thing more disturbing that their slow death was that the Emperor was smiling through all this, as if it was a funny hobby of his. When the lightning finally stopped, there was nothing left but two burn corpses, no indiviual features left on them.

"Guards! Remove this mess from my throne room. And as for you, woung one..." His sick yellow eyes were fixed on Mara's green ones and the frightened girl suddenly fell totally silent, like a droid who was turned off. "Your life until this point has never happened... Forget it all... Forget... forget..."

The picture faded away and the darkness re-appeared. Mara wanted to shout, to scream that it was lies, but she knew that it was the real thing. She knew it was true because her deepest, inner self told her so. What she had witnessed was the crime that had altered her life forever. Not knowing what to believe anymore, all strength left her and she collapsed on the ground, weeping.

The Jedi looked at her with compassion, knowing that this must have been very hard for her. "I know, the truth is hard to accept, and it will take time for you. When you awake, there will be friends who want to help you. Up until a few days ago your future was dark, full of fear and pain. But then, something happened and this future vanished like a bad dream. Now, the future is what you make of it..."

He began to vanish when Mara looked to him with tear-soaked eyes "Wait! Don't leave me alone! Who are you?"

"I can't tell you my name yet but be assured we will meet again." Together with him, everything vanished and Mara entered a state of dreamless sleep.

* * *

_...Amidala's cabin..._

The news were bad.

Padmè was alone in the bed in her cabin remembering again what the old pilot had told her. He had been a pilot in the battle of Naboo, and had now pledged his loyalty to the Alliance. It was strange how some lives could go, she thought. It was even more a pure coincidence that this man was friends with the now retired Panaka -a friend of the family- and thus had news for her from Naboo. Sadly the news weren't good for her personally.

While the world itself still seemed as it ever was, it became real bad once one would take a look behind the outer appearance.

The tight imperial control of the system had made the planet quite isolated from the galactic events. The current king was in a really bad situation. He had to kiss the Empire's feet so that Naboo would be spared from occupation troops. What disobiedience could result in was still fresh in everyone's minds. In a brutal strike shortly after her departure, all of the Gungans were killed by the Empire in a huge massacre, before they again left the planet alone. The bloodbath had colored the lakes and rivers red for days and instilled an atmosphere of terror in her people that still held the planet in an iron grip.

It was a demonstration of what the Empire could do to the Naboo. And it destoryed an integral part of the world itself. With the Gungans slaughtered, he told her, it was as if a part of Naboo itself had died. It would be never again as it once was. Te only thing that was said officially from the imperial side was, that alien scum wasn't tolerated on the Emperor's home world.

And personal tragedy had happened to her as well.

Her mother had died because of illness, leaving her father a widower. And she hadn't been there for her in her last moments, nor to help her father through this hard time. Now she had to mourn for her alone, while still trying to cope with the feelings of shame that she'd abondoned her family during these hard times. Thank the gods that at least the rest of the family was well, considering the circumstances.

She also learned news of her old friend Panaka, who blamed himself for failing his duty, resulting in her death. She couldn't imagine living with such guilt for 19 years. A guilt that was totally unfounded, since she was very alive.

However, it would take days before they could establish a secure hyperwave line to Naboo so that she could finally speak with the ones she had left so long ago. Security was the most important, so that it couldn't be traced. And things like that took time. She would have to wait. _I have waited 19 long years, so what are a few days?_

Finally with thoughts about how she would be reunited with Anakin some time in the future, an Anakin that hopefully had truely reformed, sleep came.

* * *

_...Luke's cabin..._

Luke was unable to sleep.

Too much had happened that shot through his thoughts, keeping him awake. Meeting his friend Biggs, the tragic news of his grandmother's death and his possible entry into Red Squadron. And then the Force, which he already begun to feel all around him. It was pretty much that had happened in such a short time.

Luke wondered how his life would go on from here.

He thought again about his father Anakin, imprisoned by the Emperor for 19 long years, who had never seen his own children. He had said nothing to Ben yet, but he had vowed that one day, when he was strong enough he would free Anakin from the hands of the tyrant. He had noticed in even the short time they'd been together, that his father's abcense hurt his mother. He had noticed even though she tried to hide it.

But he had to be patient, because his training would take time. And patience was not one of his strongest traits. At least he wasn't alone, it seemed to be a family trait since his sister wasn't very patient as well and his mother had told him that they clearly got that from their father.

Luke looked to R2D2, who was inactive and plugged into a recharger. After the droids were unloaded, the little astromech had decided to stay with him while C3PO stayed with his sister. R2 would be used in his fighter, while 3PO was perfect for his sister's political activities. Hard to believe that both of the droids had been in contact with the family so long already, with C3PO even built by his father. Only too bad that they couldn't remember.

However, they planned to change that tomorrow. No memory wipe was really complete and especially with these two doids, who had been in the possession of his technology-magician of father he bet that there would be a way to restore their memory. Hopefully it would work.

Slowly, the tiredness overruled Luke's thoughts and finally sleep came to him. His last thought before he nodded off was about a certain red-haired girl he had not even talked with yet.

* * *

_...Leia's cabin..._

Going through countless paperwork all evening had made Leia very tired. As soon as it was all was done, she changed into a nightgown and prepared herself for bed. She left C3PO deactivated at the desk until he was needed again the next day.

Apart from the bad news her mother had gotten, the political work was the most taxing. The last days hadn't been good for the Rebellion. There had been numerous losses, the Yavin base first place. They had been set back by months and the threat of the Death Star would now make it much more difficult to motivate whole planets into ober rebellion. No wonder, when planetary shields didn't any long give protection.

She also had found doubts in the tactics of some of the cells of the Alliance. Some found it totally lemitimate to provoke the Empire into using the big stick, just to afterwards show how bad the Empire is. To sacrifice civilians like that was horribly wrong in her eyes. Other cells openly did questionable things and some -although those were quickly thrown out- even commited their own crimes they then would try to present as the Empire's.

This all gave her a headache. Leia was too tired to anymore think of politics, so instead thought of Captain Solo.

She had noticed the looks he gave her every time they were near each other. It was a bit uncomfortable for her, having really no experience with men thanks to Roxana Organa. Solo was an enigma to her. Cool on the outside, but even with her still nearly minimal Force sense, she felt the chaos of emotions he radiated. Maybe this was why she was even interested in him, apart from his good looks.

If she could only find out why after the first interest he'd suddenly minimised his contact to her. It had come all of a sudden, as if he remembered something that made him go on distance to her.

She shook her head. The man was sometimes really irritating, so why should she care?

She wondered for nearly half an hour before sleep came, why she actually did care. And for her, who was used think was her head, it was impossible to pinpoint the reason. She just... did care for him.

* * *

_...Han's room in the Falcon..._

The cabin in the Falcon stank of Corellian whiskey. No wonder, since Han was right now on his fifth glas. Chewbacca had scolded him for his drinking but he had simply locked the door, so he was alone now.

"On my past love, thank you for ruining my innocence about woman..." he said to himself, before downing the whole glas in one gulp.

On one hand, he had vowed to never have something with a woman again. The disappointment with Bria had hurt him deeply, so he had decided to hide his true feelings behind a facade, to scare away the females that were candidates for a second heartbreak. It had worked perfectly, until he saw Luke's sister for the first time. Apart from her good looks, she was strong willed and had courage. So actually the kind of woman literally made for a man like him.

But then he had remembered the whole Bria thing that he'd tried to forget. Her betrayal had hurt enough. That then also had the gall to 'compensate' him for his losses by offering entrance into the Rebellion had been the final straw and the reason why he still didn't have a good opinion of them. After all, if they screw in the new of the oh-so-important greater good, you don't want to be associated with them, also it now was too late for regrets.

And as if to mock him, Bria from the grave -he did learn about her death- now was busy with causing him headaches over Lady Skywalker the Younger.

He wanted to be near her, but at the same time he feared he would only be hurt again. When she had looked at her a certain way today it had all come back to him, and he had excused himself. It was as if she had looked though his facade and it had made him fearful. The conflict was overwhelming him. Trying to suppress the conflict with drinking was not a big help. It only swirled in his head even more prominent now, the result of too much Corellian whiskey.

_I just wish Lando was here to help me. He is the expert with girls, not me. But he is half a galaxy away, making money with tibanna-gas..._

He instantly regretted that thought because he now remembered that Bria's betrayal had also seriously hurt his friendship with Lando and they had parted not on the best terms. No wonder if Lando thought thanks to Bria's stupid babbling that Han had been in the whole set-up from the beginning.

Han knew that he would pay dearly for the drinking in the morning, but now he only wanted to sleep. Not bothering with his boots, he dropped on his bunk, his last thoughts about a brown-haired woman, who was nearly five years younger than he was.

_Stupid woman, only causing trouble..._he silently ranted.

Then he passed out from his drinking.

_**to be continued...**_


End file.
